Star Trek: Constance
by Ruin Queen of Oblivion
Summary: A fanfiction based off of Star Trek: Online. Share in the adventures of the U.S.S. Constance and Captain Rachel Covaks, as they journey out to explore the far reaches of the Galaxy. A 7-season fanfic, read it as it all begins.
1. To Boldly Go

_Well, I am going to make an actual attempt at making a Star Trek fanfic now, wish me luck._

_This fanfic's plot is slightly based off of Star Trek Online; however there will be a series of missions that I made up instead of just missions from the game._

_Obviously, not all of the characters in the fanfic are from the game, like the Tactical Officer whose species is currently unavailable. And honestly I'm embellishing a little, it was two Borg in the hallway with the devices, but a group makes for a better scene._

_Disclaimer: I only own what I made up._

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**PROLOGUE:**

** THE ROAD TO 2409 **

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_After leaving Starfleet, I made it my life's work to reunite the Romulans with their Vulcan brothers. For years I lived among them, waging a campaign of peace._

_In 2387, the star of the Hobus system went supernova, sending a wave of destruction across the quadrant. I promised to save the Romulan homeworld, I failed. The planets of Romulus and Remus were destroyed._

_Using Red Matter, I created an artificial black hole which contained the Supernova, but in the process I was drawn into the singularity into another time. My home, everyone I knew is gone._

_Time does not stop for one man, and neither does history. The chaos in Romulan space gave the Klingons an opportunity to spread their territory. "Only in battle," J'mpok says. "Is a Klingon truly Klingon."_

_The Federation tried to maintain the Klingon alliance for as long as possible, but war was inevitable._

_The Romulans want revenge for their destroyed Homeworld._

_The Dominion is building its forces._

_Now, the Borg has returned and is attacking the Vega Colony._

"_This is the U.S.S. Kithomer, calling any Federation ships within range. The Borg, we are being boarded!"_

_The Alpha Quadrant stands on the brink of destruction._

"_They've taken the bridge, and main engineering is under attack. Please, anyone, help!"_

_Every generation, Starfleet officers hear the call of duty._

**00000**

_**First Officer's personal log Stardate 86116.2, Commander Rachel Covaks' first entry as the First Officer on board the **_**U.S.S. Constance**_**, reporting in as requested.**_

_**The **_**Constance**_** is a good ship, but I am starting to wonder if this was just a punishment for the incident two months ago. But I am happy; a Galaxy-class cruiser like the **_**Constance**_** is still mostly dedicated to exploration, even with the war with the Klingons going on.**_

_**The **_**Constance**_**, or the NCC-71106, was commissioned and launched in the same year as the **_**U.S.S. Enterprise-D**_**. A Galaxy-class cruiser that saw action during the Dominion War, and later helped in the Romulan relief efforts, all and all she has a great record, and I am honored to serve as her first officer.**_

_**As for me, I am Commander Rachel Lauren Covaks, there's not much to say about me. I was raised in Chicago; my family has served in Starfleet for generations, going back to the time of James T. Kirk. Until I was made the First Officer on board the **_**Constance,**_** the only real claim-to-fame my family had was that one of my relatives had served on the **_**Enterprise-C**_** when she was destroyed by Romulans.**_

_**Well you know me and you know my ship, what more is there to tell?**_

**00000**

"Captain Nelson, we're getting a report from Starfleet Command," a female Bajoran says at the helm of the ship, glancing back to the captain, a balding man with a well-trimmed graying beard.

"Put it on," the captain says, and the view screen turns on, showing the image of an aging woman, wearing the uniform of a Starfleet admiral. "Admiral Roland, it's good to see you again."

The _Constance_ was getting its last crew members on board after the new assignments, before being sent out to assist in a First Contact mission.

"_Your mission is on hold, Captain Nelson,"_ Admiral Roland says. _"Is the rest of your senior staff on board?"_

"I'm still waiting for my First Officer and the new Medical Officer hasn't arrived yet in Sick Bay," Nelson says, and turns as the turbolift opens up. In walks a woman in her late 20's, with long black hair tied back into a braid, she's wearing the typical TNG tactical uniform, only with white instead of black.

"Sorry sir I got lost, Commander Rachel Covaks, at your service," Rachel says, giving a salute. "Lieutenant Commander Kassadae is currently en-route to Sick Bay."

"_Very well then,"_ Roland says. _"You are being called out to defend the Vega colony from attackers; we need all available ships there."_

"Who's attacking Admiral, the Klingons?" Nelson asks, and the Admiral shakes her head.

"_We believe that the attack is being carried out by the Borg,"_ Roland says, and a chill runs down the spines of everyone on the bridge.

"Ensign Lirae, set a course for Vega Colony, Maximum Warp," Nelson says as the Bajoran at the helm nods, and the _Constance_ enters warp.

**00000**

It would still be a little while before the _Constance_ would reach Vega, so Rachel is in Ten-Forward, taking a drink.

"So then you're the new First Officer, huh?" The bartender, a female Andorian, assumingly around middle-age says, bringing Rachel another drink while she looks out at the stars beyond. "I've heard you served on the _Morgana_, when the incident happened."

"Yeah, and who are you?" Rachel asks, staring out at the stars, not looking at the woman.

"Tarish is my name, I tend bar, and whenever the need arises, I listen to the crew's needs," Tarish says. "I've heard a lot of good things about you, you're a dependable officer, and you're not afraid to speak your mind, I like that in an officer."

"I'm glad someone does," Rachel says, taking another drink. "It seems like I've ticked off every Captain I've ever served under, plus several Admirals, I'm lucky I'm still in Starfleet."

"Apparently someone still has faith in your abilities," Tarish says.

"Yeah, and I wish I knew who that was," Rachel says.

"_All hands, we are coming out of Warp, Senior Officers report to the bridge,"_ Nelson's voice comes over the communicators.

"That's my cue," Rachel says, and heads out of Ten-Forward, glancing back at Tarish a moment, before leaving.

**00000**

Rachel exits the turbolift just as the _Constance _drops out of warp.

"View screen on," Nelson says, and the view screen turns on to show the remains of Starfleet ships, and only a few Borg vessels.

"Oh no," Lirae says, as Rachel moves forward, she could recognize some of these ships.

"The _Oberon, _the _Austin,_ the _Jefferson_…" Rachel says, listing off the names of the Federation ships that had been destroyed. "There is no battle with the Borg, there is only a massacre."

"Damn it!" Nelson says, slamming his fist down on the chair.

"Sir, we're getting a hail," the tactical officer, a Xindi Reptilian named Ivark says, he is an imposing figure, with green scales and long spines running down his head, his eyes reflect the fury of his species. "It's from the _U.S.S. Kithomer."_

"Put it on screen," Nelson says.

"_This is the Emergency Medical Hologram on board the _U.S.S. Kithomer," is the response, as the image of a man wearing a green uniform, with short silver hair appears, Nelson turns to look at Ivark.

"Scans are showing that the Bridge has been overrun by the Borg, sir," Ivark reports.

"_We are being overrun, Main Engineering is under attack by the Borg, and I am having trouble re-establishing contact with Commander Davis,"_ the EMH says. _"Please, _Constance,_ send us some support."_

"We'll send what we can," Nelson says, and turns to Rachel. "Commander Covaks, put together an away team, I want you on board the _Kithomer_ ASAP."

"Yes sir, Ivark, you're with me," Rachel says, motioning to the Xindi, who nods, following her into the turbolift as she activates her comm. "Lieutenant Commander Kassadae, meet me in Transporter room 3 with two members of security."

**00000**

Rachel and Ivark walk into Transporter Room 3, where two members of security are already waiting. Joining them is a woman wearing the uniform of a medical officer, her short black hair and demeanor is Vulcan, but Rachel is not so sure of her species.

"Lieutenant Commander Kassadae, reporting as ordered, ma'am," Kassadae says, giving a salute to Rachel.

"Very well then," Rachel says, though she was still perplexed by the medical officer's appearance, she filed it away for later as they step onto the transporter pad, she nods to the Chief. "All right, Energize."

The chief activates the transporter, and the 5 crewmembers vanish in pillars of light.

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**STAR TREK:**

**CONSTANCE**

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**A STAR TREK ONLINE-BASED**

**FANFIC BY**

**RUIN QUEEN OF OBLIVION**

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**SEASON 1:**

**BEGINNINGS**

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**CHAPTER 1:**

**TO BOLDLY GO**

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"_These are the voyages of the Starship_ Constance,

_Her continuing mission to seek out new forms of life and new civilizations,_

_To boldly go where no one has ever gone before."_

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**00000**

The 5 crewmembers from the _Constance_ appear in the Sick Bay of the _Kithomer,_ where they are greeted by the EMH.

"Help at last, I am an Emergency Medical Hologram, not a miracle worker," the EMH says. "I apologize, but do any of you have any medical training? None of the crewmembers helping me right now do, and we are running out of time."

"I can help," Kassadae offers. "I did my training at Starfleet medical, and I was assigned to help out in Sick Bay on board the _Constance_."

"That's all good, but what can you tell me about the situation?" Rachel asks of the EMH while Kassadae moves to assist with the injured crewmen.

"The ship is being overrun as I said," the EMH says. "I am concerned that they have taken the bridge, and Main Engineering is under attack. Lieutenant Thelis in auxiliary control requires assistance, and then you should move on towards main engineering, it could be crucial in re-taking the ship."

"Right, we'll see what we can do," Rachel says, nodding to Ivark, who moves to the door with the security officers. "Kassadae, are you going to be fine here?"

"Don't worry about me," Kassadae says, shaking her head.

"Okay then," Rachel says, drawing a pair of Polaron pistols that she carried with her instead of the standard-issue Phaser (she had bought them from a Ferengi merchant, and had paid a lot of Latinum for them.), and follows the other three into the hall.

**00000**

Meeting no resistance on the way to Auxiliary Control, the crewmembers from the _Constance_ enters the control room. Lt. Thelis, an Andorian male is waiting for them, working at a console.

"Finally some help, all crew has been directed to defend Engineering or to Sick Bay," Thelis says, working the console some more.

"What can we do to help?" Rachel asks, noticing several groups of Borg are being held back by a force field.

"You and your men should work on those consoles to get the Borg teleported into the hull breach in the next hall," Thelis says. "After we get the Borg patters into the computer, we can start to teleport them off of the ship."

"All right, we're on it," Rachel says, moving to the middle console, and motions to Ivark and one of the Security Officers, who take the other two, entering commands, a minute later the Borg vanish in pillars of light, and re-appear in the destroyed section of the ship, being flung out into space.

"All right, let them assimilate space for a little while," Ivark growls.

"_There is a message coming in from Commander Davis in Engineering, patching it through to your commbadge,"_ the voice of the EMH says over Rachel's communicator.

"Okay, let's hear it," Rachel says.

"_Commander Covaks, the Borg have set up devices on the deck above you that are disrupting communications, we just barely managed to get this message through,"_ a man's gruff voice says on the other end.

"Okay, then let me guess, you want us to go and disable the devices," Rachel says.

"_It may let us get a better idea of what happened to our bridge officers,"_ Davis says on the other end. _"We need all the help we can get to re-take this ship."_

"Okay, we're on it," Rachel says, and they move towards a turbolift, taking it to the next deck.

**00000**

As they exit the turbolift, and round the corner, they are met by Borg weapons fire before retreating back behind the wall.

"Why do they always have to make this so difficult?" Rachel says, glancing back around the corner, the Borg is not going after them, and are going back to their work on the ship. "Great, we're gonna have to get past them if we're gonna get off this deck."

"What do you have planned, Commander?" Ivark asks, the Xindi's yellow eyes narrowing, he didn't like having to wait.

"They're guarding the devices, I want you three to cover me, and I'll take out the devices, if they get too close, don't let them touch you, we have to move fast," Rachel says, giving her pistols a twirl. "On my mark, three, two, one mark!"

The four Starfleet personnel move around the corner, Ivark and the security officer's fire at the Borg, some of them turn around and fire at them, but the rest just stick to their work. At the same time, Rachel can see several Borg Devices lining the walls, she fires at them, which takes out a couple, but the Borg is starting to get the idea.

"Okay, on three, plasma grenades, one, two, three!" Rachel says, and they toss Plasma Grenades into the Borg group and towards the devices, spreading plasma all over the hallway, causing the remaining devices to explode, and that takes out the Borg.

"Okay, come on, we gotta get around the Plasma before more of them come," Rachel says, motioning to a large room next to the hall which would let them bypass the Plasma.

"I say let them come," Ivark growls, he was agitated; he wanted to fight, but follows Rachel through the room.

"We're here to save the ship, not to kill all the Borg we can, Lieutenant, if you don't like that, you can stay behind," Rachel snaps, she wasn't in the mood to put up with the Xindi's attitude right now. "I'm sure the Borg would love to have you in the collective, or should we keep going?"

"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am," Ivark says.

"_That did it Commander,"_ Davis' voice says on the other end of Rachel's commbadge. _"Thanks to your help, we are starting to re-take the ship, but the Borg is making one final push towards Engineering, we need your help down here, Commander Covaks."_

"Okay, we're on our way," Rachel says, and they step into the turbolift, Rachel had a feeling this was going to be a very long mission.

**00000**

"Why can't we ever just have a straightforward mission?" Rachel wonders out loud as they step out of the turbolift. "I swear, sometimes I think Starfleet is cursed to have to put up with these crazies from now until the end of time."

"It's better than a boring survey mission; I'd rather be where the action is," Ivark says.

"Yeah, but between the Romulans, the True Way, the Klingons, and now the Borg, it's hard to get a boring mission on any ship," Rachel says. "And that's only what we know about, the galaxy is a big place, there could be other species that we don't know about that hate us."

"Okay, so I'll give you that one," Ivark says as they round another corner, and are met with more Borg fire.

"Well, looks like you'll get your wish then," Rachel says, but she was worried, what if the Borg had adapted already, then again these Borg seemed different somehow, could they even adapt? There was no point in taking a risk, they had to take out the Borg fast, and make the final push to Engineering.

"Okay, so what's the plan this time, Commander?" One of the security officers asks, there wasn't an adjoining room this time, so it wouldn't be that easy.

"Set weapons on a rotating frequency," Rachel says, and makes the adjustment on her pistols while the others do the same. "If this doesn't help, I don't know what will."

They move into view of the Borg, who is too busy being attacked by the _Kithomer_ crew from the front to notice they are being flanked.

"Fire at will!" Rachel says, and they open fire on the Borg, who is caught completely off-guard, shields protected them, but are quickly shattered by the burst of Polaron Fire.

"Thank you, they almost overtook us there," one of the _Kithomer_ crew members says, thanking them.

"There's still more Borg behind us," another says, pointing down towards Main Engineering where a last group of Borg is pushing towards the Warp core. "Please, you can't let them reach the warp core!"

"We're on it," Rachel says, and the 4 _Constance_ crewmembers push through, heading down the ramp towards the Borg, opening fire on them.

"I need you to hold them off for a few minutes while I get this finished!" Commander Davis, a bald man working at a console shouts while Rachel and the others make it behind the barricade, continuing to fire on the advancing Borg drones.

"I really hate these guys," Rachel says, firing her pistols quickly, the Borg where quickly starting to adapt, every time she shot one down, another one seemed to appear with better shields, this was not going to go well.

"Done!" Davis shouts, as the power is restored to the ship's shields, they manage to shoot one more down, but none come after that. "Sounds like the Borg have hit your ship too; you might want to get over there."

Rachel presses her commbadge. "Kassadae, are you ready to go?" She asks.

"_Everything is fine over here, ready to transport,"_ Kassadae says on the other end.

"Commander Covaks to the _Constance,_ lock on to all of our locations and beam us back," Rachel says, getting the confirmation. "Energize."

**00000**

Rachel and Ivark return to the bridge, which is in shambles, Ivark moves to his spot at tactical while an Andorian named Syre approaches Rachel.

"Commander, I'm glad to see you're all right," Syre says. "It was horrible, the Borg attacked the ship we lost Captain Nelson, Dr. Irai, and most of the senior staff, you are the ranking officer right now, ma'am."

"That means…" Rachel says, falling back into the Captain's chair.

"Ma'am, you are now the acting captain of the _Constance_," Syre says.

"Okay, Lt. Commander Syre, take your station," Rachel says, remembering that Syre was the Second Officer, he nods and sits in his spot while Rachel activates the ship-wide comm. "This is Commander Covaks speaking, we have been through a lot since we arrived in the Vega system, but as of now I am taking on the position of Acting Captain with the death of Captain Nelson. We are going to stay and help out as much as we can, but as I am looking now, it does not look good. I ask that all of you stand by me for now, until a final decision can be made as to who will replace Captain Nelson."

She shuts off the comm., and sighs; this wasn't going to be easy, for anyone.

"Commander, we're being hailed by the _U.S.S. Seacole_," Ivark says.

"Put it on screen," Rachel says with a sigh as the image of an African woman with grey hair tied into a bun appears on the view screen.

"_This is Captain Alcott of the_ U.S.S. Seacole, _I assume that I am talking to the surviving Command officer_," Alcott says.

"That would be me," Rachel says with a nod.

"_We need your help, our transporters are down and there are four ships that require assistance, can you pick up the survivors and transport them to us?"_ Alcott asks.

"We'll pick them up," Rachel says.

"_Thank you very much, Commander," _Alcott says, and the transmission is cut.

"What ships are we picking up that still have survivors?" Rachel asks.

"The _Kelvin, _the _Bohr, _the _Oakland, _and the _Montreal_," Syre says.

"Okay, set a course for the nearest ship, I'll be in the ready room," Rachel says, and walks into the next room.

**00000**

Rachel is going over crew rosters when Kassadae walks in.

"You wanted to see me, ma'am?" Kassadae asks, the medical officer looks at Rachel blankly, but Rachel can tell that she's a little nervous.

"Lt. Commander Kassadae, I've been going over the crew rosters, and I found a, discrepancy in one of them," Rachel says. "More specifically yours, it says that you are from Vulcan, but I have no confirmation of your birth, I was curious as to why."

Kassadae is starting to look uncomfortable. "Ma'am, I don't believe…"

"You're a Romulan, aren't you?" Rachel asks, and Kassadae is surprised by this. "Don't be so surprised, I'm quite familiar with Vulcans and you carry yourself differently than them. I'm a seasoned poker player, Lt. Commander, I can read people well."

"Yes, I am a Romulan, I was born on a Romulan colony, my parents were killed in the chaos following the supernova," Kassadae says, looking down. "The Vulcans, they raised me like I was one of their own; my adopted father got me into Starfleet. A lot of people don't feel comfortable serving with a Romulan, if…"

"Kassadae, I don't really care, I've seen the rest of your file, you're a good officer, and a compassionate person," Rachel says. "In fact, if Starfleet allows me to remain as Captain, I want you to serve as my Chief Medical Officer."

"Really? Well, I don't know what to say," Kassadae says. "Thank you very much, ma'am, just, I don't want the whole ship to know, that I'm a Romulan you know."

"I won't tell a soul," Rachel says. "But, I think that the crew wouldn't care, as long as you wish it, I will not tell anyone."

"Thank you ma'am," Kassadae says.

"_Commander, we've finished transporting the survivors to the _Seacole_,"_ Syre says over the comm.

"Okay, I'm on my way now," Rachel says, and walks back out onto the bridge.

**00000**

"_Thank you for all your help, Commander Covaks,"_ Alcott says on the view screen. _"You and your crew have saved many lives today."_

"Yeah and something tells me the day isn't over yet," Rachel says, shaking her head as the communication shuts off.

"Commander, we're getting orders from Starfleet Command, we're to move to Vega IX to defend the colony from the Borg," Ivark says.

"Send them confirmation, helm, set a course," Rachel says, and the helm officer nods, and the ship goes off into warp towards the Vega Colony.

**00000**

The _Constance_ exits warp in the middle of a battle between the Federation and the Borg, which strangely consists mostly of small probe ships.

"Commander, the Borg has beamed down to the colony, but we can't get down there until we deal with them up here," Syre says.

"Ivark, lock phasers on the nearest target," Rachel commands. "Open fire!"

The _Constance_ fires phaser beams at the already battered and damaged Borg Probes, it was not going to be an easy fight though. While they had managed to do massive damage to the Borg probes, the Federation had already lost 3 ships.

"Enemy shields are down to 47%," Ivark says, Rachel slams her fist down onto the arm of her chair. "What else can we throw at them?"

"Well, the captain had a Quantum Torpedo launcher installed, but I don't know…" Ivark says.

"Open fire with everything we've got, I want those Borg destroyed!" Rachel shouts, as a volley of blue torpedoes are fired from the _Constance, _impacting the Borg probes, several explode on the impact, giving the old ship a chance to slip through the battle and entering orbit around Vega IX.

"We're being hailed by the _Victoria_," Ivark says.

"On screen," Rachel says, and the screen activates to show a woman in her 40's with a sharp look in her eyes.

"_Commander Covaks, I should have known, well, we've got the situation in hand, you all should make your way to the surface, good luck and Godspeed," _the captain says, and cuts off the transmission.

"What was that about, ma'am?" Syre asks.

"Don't ask, Ivark, you're with me, Syre, you have the bridge," Rachel says, and heads out of the bridge down the turbolift, with Ivark following her.

**00000**

Rachel and Ivark, followed by Kassadae and 2 security officers teleport down to a barricade where Starfleet officers are shooting at the advancing Borg, which are sort of spaced sporadically.

"Commander Covaks, I'm Commander Kelly," an African man with a graying beard says, greeting the away team. "We've got a situation down here, we're trying to get the civilians evacuated off the planet, but several have been captured by the Borg. It's strange; they are making no effort to assimilate them, yet."

"That is bizarre," Rachel says, remembering the behavior of the Borg back on the _Kithomer_ as being unusual as well. "What do you want us to do?"

"Free the trapped colonists for a start," Kelly says, glancing over Rachel. "With all due respect, Commander, I'm familiar with your reputation. Are you going to actually follow orders this time?"

"Commander, the Borg is no laughing matter," Rachel says, and heads into the settlement with the others following her. They soon stumble across a group of Borg surrounding a terrified colonist.

"Please, someone, help me!" The poor colonist exclaims.

"We are the Borg, resistance is futile, you will be assimilated," the Borg drones say, seemingly in unison.

"I swear, I hate these things," Rachel says, drawing her pistols with a spin, and opens fire on the Borg, followed by the rest of the officers, the Borg quickly fall under their fire, and the frightened colonist scurries away.

"If I may ask, ma'am, what is it with you and the Borg?" Kassadae asks.

"My great-uncle was at Wolf 359 when the Borg first attacked," Rachel says, moving forward, and spotting another group of Borg, she fires a fury of Polaron shots, taking out one Borg right away. "And you remember what happened there, don't you?"

Wolf 359 of course was a massacre; an entire fleet had been destroyed by a single Borg Cube, as what tended to happen when they fought the Borg.

"Oh, well, that is understandable," Kassadae says, and shoots at the Borg. The Borg didn't last much longer, and soon the rest of the colonists where freed, and where on their way to safety. But the day was not won yet, as they left the settlement, they see nearby a massive structure.

"_Commander, we've got a lock on the Borg structures on the ground,"_ Syre says over Rachel's commbadge. _"But we need you to disrupt the shield generator that is protecting them, if we can take them out, we could drive the Borg from the Vega colony."_

"Okay, got it," Rachel says, taking out her tricorder which includes a map, she gets an idea of where the generator is, and they head for it.

The Generator is strangely unguarded, or so it seemed until they got closer, until a single Borg comes into view. Tall and massive, Rachel noticed Jem'Hadar features, she filed that away for later, but for now, they had to take it out.

"Cover me, I'm gonna make a run for the generator!" Rachel says, and the 4 officers open fire on the Heavy Drone while Rachel makes a run for the generator. The Borg's shield is much stronger than the others, but while Rachel works at the generator, it is becoming apparent that it was penetrable, as the shields surrounding the devices shut down.

"_That's it, Commander, beaming you up now," _Syre says, and Rachel and the others vanish in pillars of light, then a rain of quantum torpedoes take out the Borg devices.

**00000**

Rachel groans falling back into the Captain's chair on the bridge, the battle with the Borg had taken a lot out of her.

"Commander…" Ivark says.

"WHAT NOW?" Rachel snaps the poor acting captain is not in a good mood.

"We're getting a message from Admiral Quinn," Ivark says.

"Put it on screen, what else could possibly happen…" Rachel says, and the screen turns on to reveal an aging man with short white hair, and a white beard.

"_Commander Covaks, I've heard many things about you, it's good to finally meet you,"_ Quinn says.

"I swear, the rumors of my insubordination are highly exadurated," Rachel says. "We lost the captain, what now, are we gonna get a new one?"

"_Why? I think the _Constance_ has a good one right now," _Quinn says, causing Rachel to do a double-take. _"I have seen your record, while you have had some, incidents, I believe what you have done is in the best interests of the people. You would make a fine Captain."_

"Me, a Captain?" Rachel asks.

"_The Borg have been driven out of Vega Colony, the _Constance_ needs to return to Earth to get more crew,"_ Quinn says. _"You have that time to think of your new First Officer and senior staff; I look forward to seeing you."_

Rachel is in shock, she had never expected this.

**00000**

A day later, the _Constance _has docked at the Earth Starbase, in the meeting room, the remaining senior staff is watching as Admiral Quinn pins the fourth rank thing onto Rachel's uniform. Rachel moves up to the podium, taking a deep breath.

"I could stand up here and quote some of the great captains in history," Rachel says, she didn't like having to give speeches, but hey, this was a big moment. "But this isn't a time to think about them, nor is it a time to think about me. The fact is, what we should remember is the people that didn't make it home. We lost some good people in the Vega colony, we have lost a lot of good people since the first _Enterprise_ left Earth, but we have always looked forward. I am reminded of all the people that have had this rank in the past, those that have become legends, and those that have been forgotten. Progress comes at a price, but the time will always come that the price is too high for some, while we look out to that next star; we sometimes forget those that we leave behind. This Federation was not formed on the principles of war, but on peace and exploration. I am reminded of the words of Captain Jonathan Archer during the Xindi threat, 'Do you remember when we left Earth? We where explorers then, when this is over, you will be again.' Have we forgotten this in the war? Or perhaps, can we look deep inside ourselves, and allow that explorer spirit to return. That is what I will strive to do, as captain of the _U.S.S. Constance_."

She steps away from the podium, and slowly the crowd begins to clap.

**00000**

_**Captain's log, supplemental.**_

_**We have been given a few days to rest on Earth, and we will take that opportunity. And when we are done, it is time to get back to our real mission. To go and seek new forms of life and cultures, to boldly go where no one has gone before.**_

_**For that is our true mission, the true mission of Starfleet.**_

**00000**

_**Wow, finally done with chapter 1, thought I'd never finish this.**_

_**Next up, chapter 2. We meet the rest of the main characters on board the **_**Constance**_** at least, and as they get underway to perform the First Contact mission that they were first diverted from. But also, they run into an enemy that will make many more appearances. Wait for chapter 2, "First Contact."**_


	2. First Contact

_Well, here we go with chapter two, off into the final frontier we go._

_Disclaimer: I only own the stuff I made up_

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_**Captain's log, Stardate 86130.2, we are preparing to leave Earth to continue on our mission to make first contact with the inhabitants of the planet Fenra IV.**_

_**I have personally decided to travel to meet with my new First Officer, a young rookie that has shown enough promise to be made First Officer. As such, I have traveled to San Francisco only to hear that she's gone rock climbing.**_

_**Not to be deterred, I figured a little more time wouldn't hurt.**_

**00000**

**000000000**

**CHAPTER 2:**

**FIRST CONTACT**

**000000000**

"_First Contact can be crucial,_

_A First Contact with a species can mean_

_Another enemy or another ally, preferably the former, but fate is a fickle thing."_

**000000000**

**00000**

Rachel is seated outside of the Starfleet Academy, she had gathered together most of the new crew, but her First Officer was currently on leave, so that made things difficult. Though her leave was supposed to end today, so Rachel was expecting her to be here any minute, it was all a matter of waiting.

"Umm, excuse me, ma'am?" A young teen says, walking up to where Rachel is sitting, she's looking nervous, with short dirty blond hair, and wearing a simple shirt and pants. "You're in Starfleet right? I'm, thinking about entering the academy, but, I don't know if I'm ready…"

"Well, I can help you, my father goes way back with the Admiral," Rachel says. "But, if you want more hands-on experience, I can take you on as an Acting Ensign on board the _Constance_ if you'd like, what are you good at?"

"Well, I'm good at fixing stuff," the girl says nervously.

"Well, maybe you could help out in Engineering," Rachel says. "What's your name anyway?"

"Melody Irea," Melody says.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Rachel Covaks," Rachel says, smiling a little, pressing her commbadge. "Captain to Transporter Room 2, lock on to the signal next to me, and beam her aboard."

"_Yes ma'am,"_ the voice on the other end says, and Melody vanishes in a pillar of light.

**00000**

Back up on the _Constance_, the newly appointed Chief Engineer Lora Heinricks is going over the specs of the ship's warp core. She's a petite young woman, with short brown hair, and wearing a cut off uniform.

"Excuse me, are you Lieutenant Heinricks?" Melody asks nervously, coming into Main Engineering, causing Lora to look up. "I'm sorry, but I was told you where the Chief Engineer, so the Captain wanted me to meet you."

"Oh, right, you're the Acting Ensign the Captain took on," Lora says, giving Melody a smile. "Well then, Acting Ensign, what do you know about Warp Engines?"

"A little bit," Melody says nervously. "Mostly the history, but my dad was the Chief Engineer on the _Roosevelt_, so I learned a few things from him."

"Okay, here I'll walk you through the engine specs then," Lora says, and hands Melody a tricorder as they go over them together.

**00000**

"I'll see you, and raise you 50," Syre says, tossing a set of chips into the pot, he was playing poker with Ivark and two other crewmembers, sitting around a table.

"I don't see the point of this human game," Ivark says, the Xindi sneering as he looks over his hand; clearly he had a horrible poker face. "It's all about luck, nothing more than that."

"I wouldn't say that," a soft voice says, and in walks a young woman with short dark brown hair, wearing the uniform of Starfleet science. "Is there room for one more, or is this a men-only game?"

"Take my place," Ivark says with a growl, tossing his cards down on the table and the young woman sits down.

"And, you would be?" Syre asks.

"Reana Corbrell, ship's counselor," Reana replies with a smile as she looks over her cards. "I think, I'll raise you 100," she says, tossing two chips into the pot.

"Well, that's too rich for my tastes, I fold," one of the officers says, tossing his hand down.

"Same here," the other says, and Reana's gaze turns to Syre.

"So then, is the Andorian going to fold too, or does he think I'm bluffing?" Reana asks, staring down the Second Officer, whose antennae twitch a little.

_I can't let her psyche me out,_ Syre thinks. "I'll call you," he says, tossing in 100 more, and then looks at Reana.

"I think, I'll go all in," Reana says, pushing her pile of chips in, causing the Andorian to sweat.

"Fine, I fold!" He says, tossing the hand down, Reana giggles as she pulls in the pot, showing her hand as a pair of eights.

"See now, Ivark, the game's not about luck, it's about psychology," Reana says, counting up her chips. "But that doesn't matter; you boys wanna play another hand?"

**00000**

A few hours later, the crew is finally all accounted for as Rachel enters the bridge, followed closely by a Bajoran with hot pink hair that frames her face, which gives the men on the bridge a wink as she takes her seat at the First Officer's position.

"Commander Drash," Rachel says, speaking to the First Officer Drash Kada, as she takes a seat. "I think we've dallied around enough, and should get on with our mission, don't you agree?"

"I just want to say, I'm honored to be here," Kada says.

"All right, helm, set a course for Fenra IV at warp 4, I believe we have a First Contact to make," Rachel says.

"Setting course, mark 318.2," the helmsman says, inputting the commands into the helm.

"Engage," Rachel says, and the _Constance _jumps to warp.

**00000**

In route to Fenra IV, Kada is seated at a table in Ten-Forward, the Bajoran First Officer lets out a sigh. She was barely out of the Academy, making Commander at this point was all but unheard of, but apparently the Captain had requested her specifically. Tarish comes up, setting a drink down next to the Bajoran.

"Hello Kada," Tarish says, greeting the Bajoran with a smile. "I didn't expect to see you aboard the _Constance_."

"Well, I guess the war is making Starfleet desperate if they're making rookies First Officers now," Kada says. "And what about you Tarish, I thought you wanted to start your own restaurant back in L.A."

"Yeah, well Captain Nelson needed a new bartender after the last one quit, and we're old friends," Tarish says, she had been working as a waitress at a bar in San Francisco, and was well known around Starfleet. "When Captain Covaks was put in charge, she asked me to stay on. I figure I'll get that restaurant after a few years on the _Constance_."

"Yeah, well I didn't expect to be on a starship this soon," Kada says with a shrug. "I don't know why the Captain has such faith in my abilities, but somehow I guess it worked out like that."

"So then, we're going for a First Contact Mission then, well that should be interesting," Tarish says. "I hear the new Chief Medical Officer is outfitting some of the crew with alterations so we can get an idea of the people down there."

"Well, it should certainly be interesting," Kada says. "I've only read about First Contact Missions, they tend to be very delicate. I'm trying to get some data on the Fenarans, but there's not much in the records."

"Well, the Federation is all about making first contact with new species and civilizations," Tarish says. "I hear the new counselor is quite the card player."

"Right, the weekly officer's poker game," Kada says. "I've heard the Captain's a champ."

**00000**

Speaking of Rachel, she's currently settling down into the Captain's cabin, with the planet still hours away, the crew had some time to relax before the mission. Rachel is currently hanging up a painting done of the _Enterprise-D_, the ship whose crew had truly inspired her to enter Starfleet, actually her walls where lined with such paintings. As she fits the painting up, the door buzzer is pressed, signifying someone wants to come in.

"Come in," Rachel says, as Reana walks inside the Captain's cabin. "Oh, you must be the new ship's counselor."

"Yep, that's me," Reana says with a smile, looking at the room which is a mess of paintings and old books. "You admire the old _Enterprise _ships then?"

"More like what they stood for," Rachel says. "The _Enterprise_ is a name of ships that where great explorers. Every ship that has ever held the name has become a legend, and I want to become a legend as well."

"They not let you on the _Enterprise_-E?" Reana asks.

"No free crew spots," Rachel says. "Besides, after the incident on the _Morgana,_ they didn't want to put me on the flagship of the fleet."

"Right, the _Morgana_ incident," Reana says, taking a seat. "Well, I am ship's counselor; do you want to talk about what happened?"

"What happened is public knowledge; you don't have to get a personal narrative," Rachel says, shaking her head. "I'm tired of getting so much grief for what happened I just want to move on."

"I understand," Reana says.

"I suppose I'm lucky to get a command at all after the incident," Rachel says, shaking her head. "The _Constance _is a good ship, and I think she has a good crew, but we have to be ready for what is out there, and to do that we have to work together as a team."

"I think the crew will stand behind you no matter what, Captain," Reana says.

"Let's hope so," Rachel says. "Because we have a very long mission ahead of us, the last thing we need is a lack of unity."

**00000**

As the _Constance_ drops out of warp, the bridge crew is back at their stations, watching the planet come up on the screen.

"Running scans on the planet's moons," Syre says, inputting commands. "Captain, the Fenarans have colonized most of their moons, recommend moving into the polar region in order to mask our signature until the time is right."

"Do we have contact with the Federation people on the planet?" Rachel asks.

"Establishing contact now, receiving information on the Fenarans," Syre says, and Rachel moves over to a screen, looking over the data. "A highly scientific culture recently developed Warp Drive and is preparing to test it, well, that explains why we're here. First Contact to be made after the completion of the initial test of the Warp ship, unless something goes wrong, possible confrontation with Klingon forces, approach with caution."

"Is Dr. Kassadae ready with the alterations?" Kada asks she had to admit that she was curious about seeing a new race.

"She should be ready to make them, but is it really…" Rachel says, looking at Kada. "Well, I suppose if you wanted to go."

"All right," Kada says, grinning a little, she heads off towards Sickbay.

"Well, let's just hope nothing goes wrong, we don't want to have to get another First Officer," Rachel says.

"With the Klingons always stirring up trouble, one can't be sure," Syre says.

The war with the Klingons, that had started only a few years before, was dragging on, and the Klingons wanted more territory. With what they perceived as a growing threat from the Undine, the Klingons wanted to bring as many species into their Empire, a bizarre twist on the concept of the Federation. On top of that, the Romulans where starting to take worlds as well to recover what they lost, and the True Way was gaining support in Cardassian territory. With the Borg back, Rachel had to wonder who would show up next, the Terran Empire maybe.

_I miss the days when the Federation was allied with the Klingons, it made things a lot easier back then,_ Rachel thinks, not that she'd ever say that out loud, but it was very strong feelings.

"Captain, there's a ship approaching at warp," Ivark says, grabbing Rachel's attention.

"What is it?" Rachel asks.

"I can't tell right now, time to intercept, 2 hours 30 minutes," Syre says, and Rachel nods.

"I want an update as soon as I know what we're dealing with, put the ship on Yellow Alert," Rachel says. "I was hoping that we could get through this without a conflict, but seeing as how that is impossible, I want everyone ready for a fight."

**00000**

Down on the planet, Kada has been surgically altered to hide the nose ridges that are the norm for her species. To further disguise her, she has been given several ridges that run along the frame of her face, and her uniform has been replaced by a loose white shirt and long skirt, the typical outfit for a female Fenaran.

"You must be new here," a male Fenaran, dressed in a brown leather uniform, signifying his identity as a Fenaran Scientist. "I've never seen you around."

"Yes, I come from a village to the North, I wanted to see the city," Kada says, the city of Rajs, which she was currently in, was the capitol for this region of the planet.

"Well, then you should come to the Town Meeting that is taking place in 1 rashek," the scientist says, Kada making a mental note to adjust her Universal Translator, but recognizes it as being more or less in half an hour. "It is important to all Fenarans; you should bring word back to your village."

_What could possibly be this important, we haven't made First Contact yet, and the Warp Ship they have is common knowledge,_ Kada thinks, tilting her head as the Scientist walks off. _I'll have to tell the Captain about this, something weird is going on._

**00000**

"A meeting, is that what he said?" Rachel asks into the communicator, Kada had found a place to hide to talk to Rachel over the comm.

"_Yeah, the way he said it made it seem very important,"_ Kada says. _"How long until the Warp Ship returns to the planet, or do we even have enough time?"_

"Not long enough, I'm afraid," Rachel says. "And we've got another problem, another ship has appeared on sensors, and is heading for the planet."

"_Great, just what we needed right now,"_ Kada says. _"I'll report back after the meeting, whatever is going to happen, I think that it will be important."_

"Okay then," Rachel says, and cuts the communication.

The turbolift opens, and Melody comes in. "Captain, the engine specs you asked," Melody says, handing Rachel a reading, she's changed into an engineering uniform.

"Good, good," Rachel says, looking over the data. "Melody, how are you settling in?"

"Very well, thank you," Melody says. "Lieutenant Commander Heinricks is really helping me settle in."

"That's good," Rachel says, handing the specs back to Melody. "Tell her to make sure the engines are in working order, we might have a fight on our hands soon."

"Yes ma'am," Melody says, and exits the bridge.

"If you ask me, Captain, she's too young to be an officer," Ivark says.

"Well, we all have to start somewhere, I'm just getting her the chance she deserves," Rachel says.

**00000**

Half an hour later, Kada has walked into the assembly hall for the capitol city, where members of the government or the scientific community would speak.

A Fenaran official steps up to the podium, speaking into what resembles a microphone. "My fellow Fenarans, I come before you humbled," he says. "For the longest time, we have wondered what lies beyond our solar system, but we have not been able to answer this question, until today. After the launching of our ship capable of making a warp jump to another system, we were contacted by representatives, seeking out our allegiance."

_Representatives, but who…_ Kada thinks, activating her commbadge so that Rachel could hear what was going on.

"And for that, I would like one of their representatives to be given the chance to speak to all of you," he says, and moves to the side slightly. "So, join me in welcoming, Commander Elira of the Orions."

The woman that walks in is clearly an Orion, her skin is a deep green, and she's scantily clad, her outfit just barely covering her body. What concerns Kada the most is an armband with the symbol of the Klingon Empire.

"I come from the Klingon Empire, my species, the Orions have been graciously allowed full citizenship within the Empire," Elira says. "You too can have the benefits of the Klingon Empire, the galaxy is a big place, and not everyone will be as friendly as we are."

_Yeah right, friendly,_ Kada thinks, trying not to show it though. _About as friendly as a Targ let loose._

"And soon my ship will arrive, bearing gifts from our empire, gifts that will bring you great prosperity," Elira says. "Your warp program is great, but we can improve it, give you warp drives that will bring you to distant stars. Your glory will be great, with the backing of the Klingon Empire; your species will be known across the quadrant, and we will prevail over the threats that plague all of us. The Borg, the Undine…"

_Undine, wait does she mean species 8472?_ Kada thinks, remembering an incident back at the Academy. She had been fiddling around with the communications system, a hobby of hers, one that she had gotten away with because of her high marks, and had intercepted a Klingon transmission. The transmission had detailed information on the war with the Gorn which was raging at the time, including a list of possible "Infiltrators" they had said, then the words "8472" and "Undine." She hadn't considered it important until after the Klingons had defeated the Gorn, and it was starting to come out that Species 8472 as the Borg called them, first encountered by the _U.S.S. Voyager_, was starting to make incursions into the Alpha Quadrant.

"And I will prove it," Elira says, and waves her hand, and two Klingons come in, dressed in the traditional armor of the Klingon warriors, dragging a Fenaran between them. Even with the modifications, Kada can recognize him as a Starfleet Officer, Ensign Eric Marnez, who had been sent to help gain information leading to the First Contact. "This Fenaran is not what he seems," Elira says, taking out a disruptor pistol.

_Wait, does that mean she knows that we're here?_ Kada thinks, but what happens next catches her off guard. Elira shoots the Disguised Officer, and as he falls down, he transforms into a Tripedal, bizarre grey alien, Elira draws a Bat'leth, and cuts the alien's head off cleanly, holding it up for the crowd to see.

"This is the face of the enemy, an Undine infiltrator within your midst, the choice is yours, but you must decide if you make the right one," she says, and exits the stage, tossing the Undine's head down.

Kada runs out of there as quickly as she can, making her way to the nearest secure location so she can talk to the _Constance_.

"Captain, did you catch all that?" She asks in a hushed voice.

**00000**

"Yes, I did," Rachel says back on the _Constance_, she shakes her head. "Commander, I want you back on the ship as soon as possible. If what Elira says is true, the ship that is approaching is a Klingon vessel, the warp-capable ship will be here in a matter of minutes, we must make first contact before it is too late."

"_I've located the main structure where they developed the Warp Drive,"_ Kada says. _"I can try and convince the staff there, but we need to really talk to Dr. Horban, the intelligence says he was in charge of the project. He's got a lot of pull with the government, if we can convince him, we'll have a lot of support."_

"Should we try to hail him when he arrives in the ship, or should we wait until he lands on the planet?" Rachel asks.

"_They're easily swayed by the Orions, but let's face it, the males are probably being affected by Elira's pheromones,"_ Kada says, recalling that Orion women let off a lot of pheromones that can bend men to their will. _"I would recommend scanning the facility first to make sure there are only Fenarans there."_

"Okay, we're on it," Rachel says, and Ivark nods, moving over to the sensor station, he runs a scan of the coordinates where the facility was.

"Confirmed, we have only Fenaran life signs there," Ivark says. "Captain, the Fenaran Ship is dropping out of warp."

"Put it on screen," Rachel says, and the screen turns on to show a long narrow ship, a one-man ship most likely, it was a bronze color, with four small nacelles. The crew watches as it descends into the atmosphere of the planet.

"Captain, we're getting movement towards the facility, you will have to act fast," Ivark says.

"On it, transporter room 3, I'm on my way, prepare to beam me down to the planet," Rachel says.

"Yes ma'am," the chief's voice says on the other end.

**00000**

The door to the ship opens, and out steps a Fenaran male dressed in the scientific uniform, he's balding, with blue-ish eyes that give off a slight twinkle. He is greeted by cheers from his colleagues as their hard work had finally paid off.

"This is a great day for the Fenarans, we can now begin to explore beyond our own planet and solar system," Dr. Horban says. "We shall be able to explore new worlds, perhaps meet races out there that are much like ourselves, and we will see the galaxy for the first time."

He looks like he is going to say more, but he is surprised as a pillar of light appears, and Rachel comes into view a minute later. The guards that were assigned to the facility draw their weapons; Rachel holds her hands up, showing she's unarmed.

"Dr. Horban, I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances, I am Captain Rachel Covaks of the Federation Starship _Constance_," Rachel says. "But we have a problem, your planet has made contact with a race called the Orions, they work for a powerful and dangerous Empire. I have very little time to explain this, but they are on their way to this facility, so I have to move fast. I want you to come with me to my ship, if your planet enters the Klingon Empire, you all will become part of a war you have no place in."

"I will come with you," Horban says, and Rachel moves next to him. "If you are telling the truth, I will see what I can do to convince the government, but it won't be easy if they are as dangerous as you say."

"Very well, that's all I ask," Rachel says, pressing her commbadge, "_Constance_, two to beam up, energize."

The two vanish into the pillars of light.

**00000**

Horban is in the _Constance's_ conference room, looking down at his planet while he reads over the information provided to him on a pad. The Klingon ship would be there within half an hour, so Rachel knew she had very little time as she walks into the conference room.

"Your ship is incredible, captain," Horban says. "Has your species always been, capable of traveling the stars?"

"No, there was a time when we were bound to our home planet of Earth," Rachel says. "After a terrible war, one of our greatest scientists named Zefram Cochrane built the _Phoenix, _our first Warp-capable ship. After making first contact with the Vulcans, much like I am making First Contact with the Fenarans, we eventually began to expand past our own planet. Now we are part of the United Federation of Planets, a testament to the sacrifices of the one's that lived during those early days."

"There are people who doubted that we'd ever find anything," Horban says. "But here I am, on this, amazing ship, talking to someone from a distant planet. Are there, more ships out there like this?"

"The _Constance_ is one of many ships in a fleet," Rachel says. "I only recently became a captain myself, but she is an old ship that has seen many battles."

"So, you still fight wars then?" Horban asks.

"The Federation is dedicated to peace and exploration, but we have had to fight wars in the past," Rachel says. "The _Constance_ here is a veteran of one such war, which we fought against the Dominion. I won't lie to you; the people we are trying to convince you to fight against are our enemies. They where once our allies, but mistakes were made and we are at war with the Klingon Empire."

"From what I can see here, I don't find that all that surprising," Horban says, looking at the pad which contained information on Federation dealings with the Klingons. "It says here that First Contact between the humans and Klingons by, Captain Jonathan Archer in 2151."

"Yes, Archer was the captain of the first human vessel that could pass warp 5," Rachel says, noticing Horban's surprised look. "Yes, warp technology is much more advanced than your ship, which is warp 1.5 capable. I believe the current record is the Olympic-class ships that can go up to warp 13."

"Amazing," Horban says. "When I first met you, Captain, I must admit that I was skeptical. But you had an air about you that made me realize that you could be trusted."

"I do not make it a habit to lie," Rachel says.

"And this Federation, if we do not yield to the Klingons will we be protected if they return?" Horban asks. "It'll be hard enough to convince the government to turn against them, but we'll need some support."

"I will talk to Admiral Quinn, I'm sure we can arrange something," Rachel says. "But first, we have to deal with the immediate threat, the Klingon vessel heading for us now."

"Likely to get the response from my government," Horban says. "I can take this information to them, and that might convince them to push the Klingon Empire out. But they will need more than this; a show of force or something would convince them the best."

"Dr. Horban, I like to think of myself as an explorer not a warrior," Rachel says rather honestly. "However, I do have orders to defend Fenra IV as best as I can, but ultimately the fight is yours. The Federation's highest code, the prime directive, is that we must not interfere in the natural progression of a species. No matter what your government chooses, we will accept that decision, but the Federation will welcome the Fenarans with open arms, should you desire to join."

Horban looks around at the conference room, which since the _Constance _was the first ship to really bear the name, was free of any such things. But lining the walls where models of older ships, legends in their own right.

"We'll just have to see, but I hope that one day, we will join," Horban says.

"_Captain, the Klingon vessel is nearing the planet,"_ Ivark's voice says through Rachel's commbadge.

"Got it, transporter room 3, transport Dr. Horban back down to the planet," Rachel says, and Horban vanishes in the pillar of light. "Bridge, I'm on my way."

**00000**

Rachel takes her seat in the Captain's chair, Kada has returned, and is back to her normal self by now.

"Lieutenant Ivark, are they within visual range?" Rachel asks, getting a nod from the Xindi. "Put it on screen."

The screen turns to show a massive Klingon ship, a warship.

"Great, it's a freakin Negh'var," Rachel groans, she had been in a few scrapes with this class of ship before on board the _Oregon_, it was one of the most powerful Klingon ships.

"Captain, they're hailing us," Ivark says.

"On screen," Rachel says, and the screen turns on to show the image of an Orion female, wearing the metallic sash thing of a Klingon Captain, with a curved scar on the right side of her face. "So, the KDF is allowing Orions to become captains now, well it's nice to see they are opening up to diversity."

"_I am Captain Mesla of the Klingon Warship Mish'ra,"_ Mesla says. _"Starfleet vessel, you are instructed to either leave the system, or surrender to the Klingon Empire."_

"Captain, they've got us outgunned, I recommend a strategic withdraw," Syre says.

"Damn the odds, I say we take them!" Ivark says angrily, slamming his fist down on the console behind Rachel.

"_I'm waiting for your response, Captain,"_ Mesla says.

"Lieutenant Ivark, lock phasers and prepare to fire," Rachel says, getting a grin from the Xindi as he carries out her orders.

"_You have made a grave mistake, Captain,"_ Mesla says, and cuts off the transmission.

"They're firing at us," Ivark says, and the ship shakes as the disruptor fire hits the shields, an alarm goes off.

"Red alert, return fire," Rachel says, and the _Constance_ opens fire on the opposing Warship with its phasers and Quantum Torpedoes.

"We managed to barely dent their shields," Ivark says as another flurry of Disruptor fire hits the shields. "Shields down to 85%, captain."

_Looks like we're going to have to be clever,_ Rachel thinks, she did have an idea, but it would require a lot of luck. "Helm, all stop."

"Captain, why…" the helmsman says.

"Just do it," Rachel says, and the helm nods.

"Yes ma'am, all stop," the helmsman says, and the ship pulls to a stop.

"Oh, I see," Kada says. "An old strategy, the Maquis employed it; I see what you're doing. Open flaps, prepare to vent Warp plasma. On your mark of course, Captain."

"Release warp plasma," Rachel says into her communicator, getting an affirmative from Engineering, one minute later plasma pours out of the nacelles of the _Constance_.

"The _Mish'ra _is coming about," Syre says.

"Drop shields, they'll want to take our ship intact," Rachel says, and Ivark nods, dropping the _Constance's_ shields as the _Mish'ra_ draws closer. "Steady, steady… fire, target their weapons and shields!" Rachel shouts, and the _Constance_ opens fire with everything she has just as the _Mish'ra _drops its shields to transport boarding parties. "Raise shields!" Rachel says as the shields are restored, but the _Mish'ra _is all but disabled.

"We are being hailed by Captain Mesla," Ivark says.

"Put it on screen," Rachel says, and the image of the scarred Orion appears again.

"_Clever, Starfleet, you have made an enemy in the Klingon Empire today,"_ Mesla says. _"We will pick up our people, but we will be back."_

"And we'll be ready for you," Rachel says.

A few minutes later, the _Mish'ra_ has left orbit, and has entered warp, heading back to Klingon space.

**00000**

Down on the planet, Rachel and Dr. Horban are talking in the Doctor's office.

"I've been in contact with my superiors in Starfleet; they will be sending ships to defend Fenra IV in the chance that the Klingons return," Rachel says. "And if Captain Mesla's threat is valid, they most likely will return."

"I've talked with my government, they are convinced not to join the Klingon Empire," Horban says. "In fact, they are discussing the possibility of joining your federation, if you would have us that is."

"The Federation welcomes all species," Rachel says. "I think that your people would make fine additions to the Federation."

"It might take awhile to convince everyone, after the Klingons, they might not be so sure that we are ready," Horban says.

"What do you think?" Rachel asks.

"I think, that we'll be ready, perhaps not today, but one day," Horban says.

"I agree," Rachel says.

**00000**

Rachel has transported back to the _Constance_, and enters the bridge, taking her seat in the captain's chair.

"We could stay Captain, to make sure they're okay," Kada points out.

"Yes, but we are not a ship of war, we must continue our mission," Rachel says. "What's our next mission, Commander?"

"I believe, we are to do surveys in the Badlands," Kada says.

"The Badlands, I've heard its lovely this time of year," Rachel says. "Helm set a course for the Badlands, warp 4."

"Yes ma'am," the helmsman says, and the _Constance _jumps to warp.

**00000**

_**Captain's log supplemental, I believe that within the next few years the Fenarans will enter the Federation.**_

_**But we didn't know what the future holds for any of us. We have a mission to complete, and it is our job to explore this galaxy. It was all now a matter of seeing if we can survive.**_

**00000**

_**Wow, I got this chapter done fast.**_

_**Next up, the **_**Constance **_**arrives in the badlands, but is met with resistance as they begin their survey. A faction of Cardassians that hate the Federation and a threat from someone else looms on the horizon. What happens next, find out in, "The True Way."**_


	3. The True Way

_Well, I didn't expect to be this far this fast, but hey, whatever works right?_

_Unlike the last chapter, this one is based off of a mission in Star Trek Online; however it is really earlier than usual, and I threw in a twist at the end._

_And to address the reviewer (and I use that term in the broadest definition of reviewer) that had the audacity to give such a disrespectful review. If you don't like it, why bother reading it or even reviewing it? I know I'm not the best writer in the world, this is the first time I've tried to write a Star Trek Fanfic, at this point I'm really just trying to learn as much as I can. If you don't like what I've done so far, go read something else, and leave me alone._

_I have a sad announcement I'm afraid, my very close friend Reana, who the _Constance_'s counselor was based off of, has died in a car accident. She will continue to live on in my heart and, in the character I based off of her._

_Disclaimer: I only own what I made up._

**00000**

_**Captains log Stardate 86141.72, we are in Cardassian space heading for the Badlands.**_

_**Since the end of the Dominion War, the Cardassians have been uneasy allies with the Federation. The Detapa council having been restored to power, but as you can probably assume, not everyone is happy with this.**_

_**A group of Cardassians has broken off, having allied themselves with the remaining Jem'Hadar in this sector, they are attacking federation outposts. Calling themselves the True Way, they demand a return to Cardassian military power.**_

_**And, they are rumored to have a base in the area of the Badlands we are going to survey.**_

**00000**

**000000000**

**CHAPTER 3:**

**THE TRUE WAY**

**000000000**

"_The Federation will fall to the Klingons,_

_If not the Klingons then the Romulans,_

_If not the Romulans then it will be the True way."_

**0000000000**

**00000**

"We're coming out of warp, captain," the helmsman says, as the _Constance _drops out of warp, the view screen shows a massive Gas giant up ahead, seemingly in the middle of a sea of plasma.

"Ebran III," Rachel says out loud, recognizing the planet from pictures.

"We're getting orders in from Deep Space 9, Captain James Kurland," Syre says.

"Put it on screen," Rachel says, and the screen turns on to show a man with short dark brown hair. "Captain, what do we owe to this honor?"

"_Bad news I'm afraid,"_ Kurland says. _"We've been getting reports of raiders hitting civilian ships near the Badlands. We believe that the True Way might be involved."_

"Great," Rachel says, shaking her head, she hadn't had to deal with the True Way personally, but she had heard stories. "And let me guess, you've found a record of them being in this system."

"_It is likely that they are using either old Maquis or Bajoran rebel bases in the region,"_ Kurland says. _"The Badlands are a dangerous part of space, but I believe we can count on you and your crew, Captain Covaks."_

"We'll deal with them, I promise," Rachel says. "If we can find them, we where only called here for a survey mission."

"_We have reason to believe they have a base on one of the moons around Ebran III,"_ Kurland explains. _"Which are the same one's you were instructed to survey."_

"Right, go figure, make us perform the mission since we were going to be there anyway," Rachel says.

"_Yes, we'll be in contact, Kurland out," _Kurland says, and the link is shut off.

"Captain, we're picking up Cardassian ships and turret emplacements around the 5 largest moons in this system," Ivark says.

"Set a course for the nearest moon, half-impulse," Rachel says, shaking her head, this wasn't going to be easy.

**00000**

"Lieutenant, I'm reading a slight variance in the Warp Core containment field," Melody says, she's working at her station, going over the data on the warp core as Lora walks over to her.

"That's odd," Lora says, looking at the data, she presses her commbadge. "Captain, we've got something down here."

"_What is it, Lieutenant?"_ Rachel asks over the comm.

"There might be a problem in the containment…" Lora starts to say, and then the readings return to normal. "That's weird; the readings are back to normal."

"_Is there a problem, Lieutenant?" _Rachel asks.

"No, everything seems to be in order here," Lora says. "Sorry to bother you."

"_Its fine, keep me informed if it happens again,"_ Rachel says.

"Yes ma'am," Lora replies, cutting the communication. "Ensign, let me know if anything else happens. I've got a bad feeling about this, and I hope that it's just paranoia."

"Yes ma'am," Melody says.

**00000**

"Captain, we're coming up on the last moon," Syre says, the _Constance _had fought its way through the True Way forces so far. "Captain, we're picking up a Keldon-class ship, and…"

"What is it, Lieutenant Commander?" Rachel asks she did not like this pause.

"It's being flanked by two Jem'Hadar Attack ships," Syre says, and Rachel curses under her breath, slamming her fist down on the armrest.

"The Jem'Hadar, I should have known," Kada says, the Bajoran Commander spits the name out like it's something foul. "I should have known they'd get involved here."

"Lieutenant Ivark, lock phasers on the nearest Attack Ship, and fire Quantum torpedoes, full spread, if it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get," Rachel says.

"Yes Captain," Ivark says, and enters the commands, a spread of torpedoes burst out from the _Constance_, hitting the three enemy ships dead-on as they open fire on the nearest Attack Ship.

"Tread with caution," Rachel says. "The Jem'Hadar has destroyed _Galaxy_-class ships before, so we can't get cocky."

"I agree, Captain," Kada says, as the fire on the first of the Jem'Hadar ships continues, they where all quite familiar with the destruction of the _U.S.S. Odyssey _during the Dominion War, they did not want to share the same fate.

"Then hit them with all we've got," Rachel says, and the fire continues to focus on the Jem'Hadar ship, before it finally explodes, and followed swiftly by its twin, leaving the _Constance_ and the Keldon ship alone.

"Captain, we are being hailed by the Cardassians," Ivark says.

"On screen," Rachel says, and the image of a Cardassian male appears on the screen, looking at Rachel with a look of distaste.

"_I am Gul Borja of the True Way, you are to surrender immediately, or you will be destroyed," _Borja demands. _"The True Way will not fall to the Federation on this day, or any other day."_

"Here's your response," Rachel says, and says something in Cardassian, to which Borja looks very insulted, and cuts the transmission, the officers look at Rachel. "What? My roommate at the Academy was a Cardassian, I picked up the language."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Reana says.

"Whatever, continue to fire on the Keldon, I want that thing destroyed!" Rachel says, clearly she had some issues with the True Way or something.

"Yes ma'am," Ivark says he was starting to like this captain, as the two ships exchange fire. "Captain, our shields are down to 73%, we've managed to get the True Way vessel down further, but we're going to be taking a lot of hits before we can destroy it."

"Bridge to Engineering, we need more power to our shields," Rachel says into her commbadge.

"_I'm giving them all we've got, Captain, but she can't take much more," _Lora says. _"Did you try asking them not to shoot at us?"_

"Very funny," Rachel says, as the fire continues between the two ships. "And as the General Hannibal was fond of saying, 'We will either find a way, or we will make one.'"

**00000**

"Make a way, that's easy for her to say," Lora says, having shut off the communicator. "First she says to give her power to weapons, now she wants power to shields, she needs to make up her mind."

"Well, she's in a tough situation," Melody says. "But she seems to be a good Captain, I figure she's gotta know what she's doing."

"Let's hope so, because I am not giving this Engine room over to the True Way," Lora says. "So, she'd better be prepared for one heck of a fight."

Melody nods. "My dad fought in the Dominion War on board the _Roosevelt_, he told me stories about the Cardassians," she says, shaking her head.

**00000**

Rachel grips her chair as she ship shakes from the impacts from the True Way's weapons fire.

"Shields are down to 30%," Ivark says.

"The Cardassians are withdrawing, they're starting to lose hull integrity," Syre says. "Captain, should we pursue?"

"No, finish the scans of the Moon," Rachel says, and the crew returns to their work.

A few minutes later, the results are learned. "Captain, we've gone over all sensor data, it seems that there is an old Maquis base on the first moon," Syre says. "It definitely has Cardassian life signs, along with several others including humans. Most likely they are holding hostages in the base."

"Could they be federation prisoners?" Rachel asks.

"Maybe, or Maquis that stayed hidden," Kada says.

"Commander Drash, get together your away team," Rachel says, she regretted not being able to come herself.

"Yes Captain," Kada says, and motions to Ivark and Syre, who follow her into the turbolift.

**00000**

The pillars of light that go with transporters appear on the planet's surface, as Kada, Syre, Ivark, Kassadae, and a Security Officer beam down.

"I don't see the point of bringing the Chief Medical Officer with us," Ivark growls.

"The hostages might be hurt," Kassadae says. "And I assure you, Lieutenant, I am just as capable in a fight as you are."

"I'm sure you are," Ivark says, he didn't really care either way; he just wanted to shoot something.

"Keep your eyes open, we can't let our guard down here," Kada says, giving Ivark a look. "The True Way will have soldiers on the inside, and we'll most likely be dealing with Jem'Hadar as well."

Kada, as you could probably guess, had a strong dislike for Cardassians, being a Bajoran. While she seemed to have little problem with the main Cardassian government, which had been allies with the Federation for years, she did however have a strong dislike for groups like the True Way.

"Jem'Hadar, finally a challenge worthy of my skills," Ivark says, drawing out his phaser rifle. "The Jem'Hadar will regret the day they came into this quadrant."

"Yeah, they certainly will once they get a sniff of your BO," Kada says with a snicker, getting a growl from Ivark. "Do all Xindi Reptilians have no sense of humor, or are you just a special case?"

_At this rate, we won't even need the True Way, Ivark will just kill Commander Drash if she keeps this up,_ Kassadae thinks.

**00000**

Rachel is in her Ready Room, waiting for word from the Away Team, hoping for good news.

"_Captain, we're getting a message from Admiral To'ran,"_ Syre says over Rachel's commbadge.

"Patch it through to my Ready Room," Rachel says, and the screen turns on to show the face of an aging Vulcan Admiral. "Admiral, any chance you are calling to explain why my ship has been diverted from our survey mission?"

"_I apologize, Captain,"_ To'ran says. _"Your ship was the closest to the Badlands; it was the logical decision to make."_

"Yeah, well the _Constance_ is not a ship of war; I do not like having to be forced into these situations," Rachel says. "When I took this commission, I thought I was clear on that."

"_Starfleet has agreed to give you more leeway in these matters, Captain Covaks,"_ To'ran says. _"I served with your father on board the _Iroquois; _he was a fine officer, and I believe that you show the same potential."_

Rachel sighs, her father, Joseph had been lost in the Dominion War on board the _U.S.S. Iroquois_, her mother had been hesitant from the beginning to let her into Starfleet, and she had also lost a brother during the Battle of Wolf 359. Rachel figured that her mother was just being cautious, but in the end Rachel had entered Starfleet Academy.

"And what about you, Admiral, I did some digging on my new Chief Medical Officer," Rachel says, getting no visual response from To'ran.

"I should have known you would," To'ran says.

"Yes, and I find it interesting, that a Starfleet Admiral, would allow a Romulan into the Academy that easily," Rachel says. "Then I started digging around a little more, your daughter, your real daughter, was on the Romulan homeworld when it was destroyed.

"Are you, blackmailing me?" To'ran asks.

"No, Kassadae is a good officer," Rachel says. "I just, wanted to get a better idea of her."

"_We attempted to raise her as a Vulcan, but as you can probably guess that didn't work out well,"_ To'ran says. _"She is your typical Romulan, emotional, unpredictable, and she can be violent. But she also can be one of the most compassionate, trustworthy officers; I honestly don't think you'll have a problem with her."_

"Sometimes I'm more worried about my Tactical Officer," Rachel says, shaking her head. "So far there haven't been any issues, but at this point you never know. I'm not so sure the entire crew is comfortable with having me as Captain."

"_The_ Morgana _incident was not your fault, your captain made his decisions, and you made yours,"_ To'ran says.

"It's not just that, over 100 people died before I decided to act, if only I had made my decision sooner," Rachel says.

"_It is illogical for you to feel guilt over this,"_ To'ran says.

"Well Admiral, sometimes logic just doesn't apply," Rachel says. "In fact, from my experience, I believe that it is possible that logic is impossible, because there are an infinite amount of possibilities in the universe."

**00000**

Down on the base in the moon, the away team has finally engaged the True Way, hidden behind a group of crates as they open fire at the enemy.

"It always seems like we're getting thrown into something dangerous or weird," Kada says, firing at the Cardassians with her Plasma sniper rifle. "Damn Cardassians, always causing trouble."

"You're telling me," Kassadae says, the Romulan shooting with a phaser pistol. "This is strange, I was expecting Jem'Hadar as well, but all we're encountering right now is Cardassians."

"And that's a bad thing, why?" Kada asks, firing at the Cardassians, ducking to avoid a Cardassian attack. "The Jem'Hadar is even worse than the Cardassians if I remember correctly."

"Because if they're not here, that means they're somewhere else waiting for us in ambush," Kassadae says.

"Oh, that, would definitely be a problem," Kada says, shooting down one of the Cardassians, when Kassadae's tricorder goes off. "What now?"

"I've got a lock on their life signs, but there's a lot of interference," Kassadae says. "We'll have to move closer if we're going to get any definite readings."

"I'm guessing then the _Constance_ can't just beam them out," Kada asks, firing another shot as Kassadae shakes her head. "I thought not, that would be way too easy."

"Where's the fun in easy?" Ivark asks, tossing a plasma grenade at the Cardassians before spraying them with phaser fire from an assault rifle. "This is exhilarating!"

Kada hated to admit it, but it was rather exciting, the rushing adrenaline that came with the battle, she lines up another shot, the plasma fire being absorbed by the enemy's shield, though it weakens a little.

"Great, it's one of the big guys, focus fire on my target," Kada says, firing at the shielded Cardassian, she needed to move quickly, since they where there, there was no telling what the Cardassians would do to the prisoners. "Plasma Grenades at the ready," Kada says, and grabs a plasma grenade along with Ivark and the two security officers, "On my mark; three, two, one mark!"

They toss the grenades at the Cardassians; the subsequent detonation burns the Cardassians with the explosive plasma, and the crewmembers of the _Constance_ pick off what's left of them as the plasma disappears.

"Come on, this way!" Kassadae says, running down the hallway that the Cardassians had been guarding, followed by the rest of the Away Team. At the end of the hallway just before the jail cells, is a single Cardassian guard.

"Only one of them, the True Way must be getting cocky," Kada whispers, taking out the Cardassian with her Sniper Rifle.

They begin to open the cells, and it's suddenly becoming obvious that they aren't Federation prisoners. They open the final cell, and a man wearing a tattered outfit steps out, with a scraggly beard and dark brown hair, he looks, almost familiar.

"About time someone rescued us," the man says.

"You're Maquis, aren't you?" Kada asks, getting a nod from the man. "Our ship is in orbit, we can get you out of here in no time."

"I want to come with you to take out the True Way," the man says. "There are crates with the supplies from our settlement that they took, we need them back."

"Commander, I'm also picking up signs of advanced weapons in the facility," Kassadae says. "If he can help us get around the place, we might be able to avoid the patrols."

"Okay, you're in, what's your name?" Kada asks.

"Joshua, Joshua Riker," Joshua says, much to the surprise of the away team.

**00000**

"And you're sure about this?" Rachel asks, Kada had reported the recent development, after the other Maquis had been teleported up.

"_He claims that his father was a clone of William Riker made in a Transporter accident,"_ Kada says.

"Right, I remember reading the mission report," Rachel says, activating the computer console showing the data on the mission in question. "Yes, here we go, the clone went by the name of Thomas Riker. He later betrayed the Federation, and joined the Maquis; I guess he had a son."

"_Right, what should we do?"_ Kada asks.

"Take him along, you can always use an extra phaser down there," Rachel says. Truthfully, she was intrigued by the prospect of meeting a person related to someone from the _Enterprise-D_, but the mission went first.

"_Yes ma'am,"_ Kada answers.

**00000**

Joshua picks up the dead guard's tetryon gun. "Come on, we need to go deeper into the base," he says, turning down a hallway that slopes downward, the _Constance_ away team follows.

"Commander, I'm picking up life signs up ahead," Kassadae says, her tricorder is beeping like crazy. "Mostly Cardassian, but I'm also picking up several Jem'Hadar."

"Jem'Hadar, I still can't believe the True Way was dumb enough to ally themselves with them," Kada growls, her parents had several skirmishes with them during the Maquis rebellion.

"Okay, they've got some very dangerous weapons that they will be using on federation ships," Joshua says. "I managed to get the access codes before they imprisoned me, we can sabotage the weapons so that they'll detonate when they try to use them."

"Okay, anything else?" Kada asks.

"Well, yes, there is one other thing," Joshua says. "There are also crates with supplies belonging to us that the True Way stole, they shouldn't be too far away from the weapons, if you don't mind."

"Captain, what do you think?" Kada asks, pressing her comm badge.

_"Go ahead, I've got the cargo bay and transporter room standing by,"_ Rachel says over the comm badge. _"Be careful down there, we're starting to get unusual readings from the area around us."_

"Yeah, the Cardassians where talking about that," Joshua says. "They've been messing with their warp engines for awhile now, nothing too dangerous."

_"Well, lets hope so,"_ Rachel says over the comm.

**00000**

"I just got off the comm with Starfleet, we're to take the Maquis to Deep Space 9 after we're done here," Rachel says.

_"Okay, we'll let you know when we're done, Away Team out," _Kada says, deactivating her comm badge.

"Yeah, Deep Space 9 and off to trial," Rachel mutters, she had attempted to talk the Admiral out of it, but with no luck. Former Maquis while rare these days, would typically be put in prison for a period of time depending on what they had done. Rachel didn't like it, she admired the Maquis for what they had done during the Cardassian occupation, and didn't want to ferry them off to prison. "I'm going back to try again," she mutters, and walks back into her ready room.

**00000**

"Drash Kada, that sounds familiar," Joshua says. "Where your parents in the Maquis?"

"Yes actually," Kada says as they round a corner, moving behind a set of crates as they shoot at a group of Cardassians. "Timor and Lasha where my parents, though they surrendered to the Federation after the end of Cardassian militarism. Now that I think about it, they did once mention a Thomas Riker."

"They worked together before he was caught by the Cardassians," Joshua says, firing at the Cardassians. "You do realize, that they're not just going to let us go."

"Captain Covaks is a good person, she'll do what she can," Kada says, shooting down the last Cardassian.

"This is getting too easy," Ivark mutters under his breath.

"The True Way must be trying to pull out of here," Kassadae says as they continue to move down the hall. They take a turn into a long hallway with four doors, two on each side.

"This is it, the weapons are on that side, and our supplies are on that side," Joshua says, motioning to one and then the other respectfully.

"All right Syre you take Ensign Stratt and Mr. Riker here over to the weapons, and we'll get the supplies," Kada says, and the two groups seperate.

**00000**

_"Captain Covaks, this is an unexpected surprise,"_ Admiral Quinn says on the screen in Rachel's ready room. _"Admiral Maroi tells me that you have a group of Maquis on board."_

"That would be the case," Rachel says. "Admiral, I don't think these people deserve to just be thrown into prison because they are Maquis. They where imprisoned here by the Cardassians, is it right for us to free them from one prison only to throw them into another?"

_"Captain, I happen to agree with you, but the law is very clear on this,"_ Admiral Quinn says. _"They where part of an admitted terrorist organization..."_

"The Maquis where defending their homes from the Cardassians, some of these people didn't even fight the Cardassians back then," Rachel says. "Is it right for us to judge them by association?"

_"Captain, what do you suggest we do?"_ Quinn asks.

"The _Constance _is still short crewmembers after the battle at Vega since most officers and crewmen are otherwise assigned to other ships and bases," Rachel says. "Its not a perfect solution, but we can give them proper training, and I think they would make good crewmembers, at least for now."

_"I will discuss it, but I can't make any promises, some of them might have to be taken to trial still," _Quinn says.

"Okay then," Rachel says, and shuts off the communication.

**00000**

Down on the base, Kada and the others are in the middle of a firefight with the Cardassians, who don't seem like they're going to give up their supplies that easily. The Cardassians have seemed to almost make this their last stand, with only the shuttle bay left in the entire facility, they where hard-pressed to keep the Starfleet officers from getting there.

"They're stalling, Gul Borja must be trying to make an escape," Kassadae says, shooting down one of the Cardassians. "And if he escapes, then we're in big trouble."

"The loss of a True Way criminal would be a problem," Kada says.

"Not to mention the fact that it would make tensions even worse," Kassadae asks.

"Well I say let them come!" Ivark says in his usual agressive manor, and continues to fire at the Cardassians.

"Ivark, try not to go overboard," Kada says, as the last Cardassian is killed, they split up and tag the remaining crates, and head back out into the hallway to meet with the rest of the group.

"Did you take care of the weapons?" Kada asks Joshua as they meet up.

"They will explode when the True Way tries to use them," Joshua says.

"Commander, I'm picking up more life signs, they are Cardassian," Kassadae says.

"Come on then," Kada says, and they run down towards the last room in the base.

**00000**

"Work faster, the Federation is almost upon us!" Gul Boraj says, rushing the other Cardassians who are trying to load the shuttle that they are going to try and escape on.

"Why doesn't he just come down here and help us," one of them mutters to the other.

"What did you say?" Boraj shouts.

"Nothing, Gul Boraj sir!" The Cardassian says, then he gets shot from behind as the Away Team makes their way into the room.

"You can't just keep your nose out of places it doesn't belong, can you?" Boraj says, activating a device, and more Cardassians appear and the group starts to exchange fire with the away team.

"Oh great, a holo projector," Kada says, it was a tactic commonly used by the True Way, a method to hide their true numbers, but still hurt just as much as a regular soldier. "Keep focusing your fire on Boraj, I'll target the projector, he can't keep it up forever."

"Commander, I might have an idea, but you'll have to give me a few minutes," Joshua says.

"We'll provide you with what cover we can, but don't take too long," Kada says, shooting at the Cardassians. "Dr. Kassadae, give him a hand if you can, we have to keep them occupied as long as possible."

"Yes ma'am," Kassadae says, and turns to help Joshua with what he is building.

**00000**

Rachel is in Cargo Bay 3, talking with a Maquis member that had been teleported on board the _Constance_. The Maquis is a human of Indian decent, and is the second in command behind Joshua Riker.

"Captain, are you saying that the Federation might arrest us?" The human says.

"The Maquis are still considered a rogue faction by the Federation," Rachel says. "I'm trying to negotiate with my superiors in Starfleet, they might be willing to let some of you off the hook, but others will have to stand trial."

"Captain Covaks, I will attempt to get the other Maquis to cooperate," the Maquis says. "The choice is ultimately Riker's, we cannot make a choice without consulting him, but I believe some of us will be willing to join."

"I hope you will all be able to get through this smoothly," Rachel says. "I still have some favors that people owed to my father that I can still call in."

"Your father served in Starfleet then," the Maquis said. "I have family that is in Starfleet, but I don't know what has happened to them recently."

"My Father was lost in battle with the Romulans," Rachel says.

"What about the _Constance_? She seems like a very old ship," the Maquis leader says.

"The _Constance_ has been in service since 2363, she was comissioned around the same time as the _Enterprise_-D," Rachel says. "She fought in the Dominion War, helped pick up Romulan refugees after the Hobus Supernova, and she's served me very well in the short time that I've served aboard her."

"She seems like a tough old gal," the Maquis says.

"Yeah, she is," Rachel says. "The _U.S.S. Constance_ is one of the finest ships in Starfleet, I've still got some concerns of course. She's not exactly the _Enterprise_, but she gets the job done, and I'm honored to serve on her."

_"Captain, we're picking up an anomaly forming on the other side of the planet,"_ an officer says over Rachel's commbadge. _"There is a ship emerging, I can't tell what she is just yet."_

"A ship, that's very interesting, I'm on my way to the bridge," Rachel says, and leaves the cargo bay.

**00000**

"I'm done," Joshua says, and moves over, grabbing a grenade and tossing it towards the Cardassians. "Get down!"

The Starfleet officers duck as the grenade detonates, and a pulse bursts out, taking out the holographic projector.

"What was..." Kada starts to ask.

"Old Maquis trick, modify a grenade to emit an EMP, takes out the enemy's tech and weapons," Joshua says, as the Cardassians try to shoot at them, the Starfleet officers approach, and stun the Cardassians.

_"Commander, you might want to get up here, are you about done there?"_ Rachel's voice asks over the comm badge.

"Yeah, we're done here, beam the Cardassians to the brig, 10 to beam up," Kada says, and they all vanish in pillars of light.

**00000**

10 minutes later, Kada exits the turbolift onto the bridge of the _Constance_, where the officers are all on high alert. "What's up?" She asks.

"Captain, the ship is coming into view now," Syre says, as the viewscreen focuses in on a ship that is approaching at full impulse, it stops right in front of the _Constance_.

"That's not possible, that's a Galaxy-class ship," Kada says. "Are there any other Federation ships in the area?"

"There shouldn't be," Rachel says. "Magnify, I want to see her registry number."

The screen focuses in on the registry of the other ship, and a chill runs down their spines, the name of the ship is the _I.S.S. Constance_.

"Take us about, get us out of here, Warp 5!" Rachel orders, but electricity runs through the bridge, and everyone blacks out for a second before regaining conciousness.

"Captain, do you still want to..." The Conn officer asks.

"No, remain here," Rachel says, but there's something different, something more sinister about her voice. "I don't want to lose sight of that ship."

**00000**

On board the _I.S.S. Constance_, the bridge crew is nearly identical to the other ship, but their uniforms are that of the Terran Empire.

Rachel steps out of the Turbolift, not sure how she got there as the crew stands up, saluting her.

"Captain, we've encountered what appears to be a Federation vessel," Mirror Kada says. "Your orders, Captain?"

_What the Hell just happened, how did I get here..._ Rachel thinks.

_To be continued..._

**00000**

_**And there you have it, first encounters with the True Way and the Mirror Universe, and it seems that the Rachels have switched places, no good can come out of this.**_

_**Next chapter, Rachel and Mirror Rachel attempt to figure out exactly what is going on while tensions mount on the **_**I.S.S. Constance**_**. With so many unanswered questions, you must wait until next time, in "Through the Looking Glass."**_


	4. Through the Looking Glass

_Well, after all the time I made you wait for chapter 3, I decided to work on chapter 4 while I was unable to access the internet._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, or, at least I didn't last time I checked._

**00000**

_**Captain's combat log, unknown stardate. We have had an unusual encounter in the Badlands, what appears to be a copy of our own ship, but more unusual than that is the way that the crew acts.**_

_**I have always learned that glory comes through conquest, but these people believe in exploration. In my situation, where I have been switched with their captain, I must learn more about the Federation before I can even make it back to my own ship, I have to figure out how this happened.**_

**00000**

**00000000**

**CHAPTER 4:**

**THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS**

**00000000**

_"Much like Alice, we must now_

_Travel through the looking glass._

_What lies beyond is the greatest mystery of all."_

**00000000**

**00000**

"Captain Covaks, your orders," Kada says, looking at Mirror Rachel, who is standing there blinking, looking at the image of the _I.S.S. Constance_. "Captain, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, stand down weapons," Mirror Rachel says, an order she never expected to give when facing an enemy, but this was a different type of situation.

"Captain, are you sure?" Ivark asks.

"Don't question my decisions, stand down weapons," Mirror Rachel snaps as Ivark grumbles, turning off the weapons. "Hail them, Mr. Ivark."

"Getting a response," Ivark says, and the image of Rachel appears on the screen, there is of course no obvious difference between the two of them.

"Captain, what's going on?" Kada asks, looking between the two Rachels on the screen and on the bridge.

"_I am Captain Rachel Covaks of the Terran Empire warship_ I.S.S. Constance," Rachel says, she had to keep up the ruse that she was a Terran Captain. "_You are impeding on space claimed in the name of the Terran Empire, you will leave this system immediately."_

"The Badlands are neutral space, the Terran Empire has no buisness in this space," Kada says, Mirror Rachel isn't entirely sure what to do in this situation. "You will explain your purpose in our space."

"_We where drawn into your universe by a quantum anomaly_," Rachel says, she was only guessing of course, but it made sense to her. "_Our Warp Drive has been damaged, we will get underway as soon as the repairs are done."_

"Captain Covaks, we have to get this ship out of here," Ivark says.

"No, not yet, we're going to stay here as long as possible," Mirror Rachel says, she wanted to get back to her ship, even if that meant making peace with the Federation, temporarily. "We will stay here for as long as you need."

_"Thank you Captain, I will try to make our stay here as short as possible,"_ Rachel says, and the viewscreen shuts off.

**00000**

"Captain Covaks, are you sure this is our best course of action?" Mirror Kada asks, directing the quesiton towards Rachel. "The Federation is an admitted enemy of the Terran Empire, the Emperor himself has decreed that..."

"The Emperor isn't here," Rachel says. "We are on our own as long as we are here, and my decision is final."

"Yes, captain..." Kada says, and exchanges glances with the other officers on the bridge.

"I will be in my ready room, you have the bridge Commander," Rachel says, and walks off of the bridge and into the Ready Room next door to the bridge.

"Computer, keep a close eye on Captain Covaks," Mirror Kada says. "Authorization Drash Zeta-Pi-Omega."

"_Authorization accepted,_" the computer says.

"Commander, are you sure this is a good idea?" Mirror Ivark says. "She is our captain, we probably should trust her judgement."

"Sometimes, you just have to trust your gut," Kada says.

**00000**

"Computer, access personnel files, Captain Rachel Covaks," Rachel says, accessing the information on the computer in the Ready Room.

"_Accessing,_" the Computer says, and the file pulls up, showing the image of Rachel in the rather revealing female uniform for the Terran Empire. _"Rachel Covaks is an officer in the Imperial Starfleet, she is the hero of numerous battles with the Klingon-Cardassian alliance, having re-taken 37% of the territory lost by the occupation, in addition to another 7% of territory that was held by the Alliance, and 5% of previously unclaimed territory. She has been personally commended by Emperor Charles Teron, and is now serving on board the _I.S.S. Constance_ as the Captain."_

"A conquerer, so that's what's become of me in this universe," Rachel says, and continues to read through the information on her Mirror Universe counterpart, when she finishes she changes tactics. "Computer, access historical logs pretaining to the Terran Empire, dating back to its origin."

"_Accessing,_" the computer says, and the information pops up onto the screen, and a chill runs down Rachel's spine. This was the first time that a Federation captain had access to this information, a lot of questions would be answered, questions that had plagued the Federation since the first encounter with the Terran Empire, and it was time to get some answers as she begins to read.

**00000**

Back on the _U.S.S. Constance_, Mirror Rachel is doing the same thing, going over the information on Rachel. "An explorer, ha, the only great people are conquerers," Mirror Rachel says, laughing to herself as she goes over the information, and the buzz of someone wanting to come in is heard. "Come in."

Kada walks in, the Bajoran stands at attention. "Captain, permission to speak freely," Kada says.

"Permission granted," Mirror Rachel says, looking Kada up and down, in the Mirror Universe the Bajorans where part of the Klingon-Cardassian alliance, with a few exceptions such as her First Officer. The Bajorans where usually considered enemies of the Empire, but because of the loyalty of the Drash family gave Kada a chance to serve as the First Officer.

"Captain, I believe that we are making a mistake by staying here," Kada says. "The Terran Empire has proven to be a dangerous adversary in the past, despite the fact that they where on the decline after the conquering, but if they are capable of building a Galaxy-class, they are improving their weaponry."

"The Terran Empire is certainly improving their tech," Mirror Rachel says, looking over the scans of the _I.S.S. Constance_, our two ships are nearly identical, and equally matched. The one advantage they have is that they're newer since the Terran Galaxy-class was more recently constructed."

"The _I.S.S. Constance_ is built for war, not for exploration," Kada says. "I think we'd have better luck taking on a Romulan warbird than against our counterpart. She is a warship, I don't think we can stand up to her, and you know it, why delay our departure?"

"Call it a curiousity, we have never really had the chance to be this close to the Terran Empire," Mirror Rachel says. "A chance to learn more about them, something that we should not simply pass up."

"If you say so, Captain," Kada says, but still is a little apprehensive about the idea.

**00000**

On the _I.S.S. Constance_, Mirror Kada is also questioning Rachel's decision to stay close to the Federation ship. She has called a meeting of the Senior Staff, short of Rachel of course, there is very little difference betwen the two, only Kassadae is different, by some strange variation in the universe Kassadae is a Vulcan.

"Commander, are you sure about this?" Mirror Ivark asks.

"Captain Covaks is a hero of the Empire, the Emperor will question our decision to mutiny against her," Mirror Kassadae says. "I fail to see the logic of your idea, the Emperor will have our heads for this."

"If we can give the Empire a foothold in this reality, the Empire will forget all about our mutiny," Mirror Kada says. "We could even surpass that fool O'Brien in Imperial Starfleet, we must act now or we will never get this chance again."

"The Captain's cover story about an anomaly is holding, but eventually they will figure out that we've developed technology to travel between our universes," Mirror Syre says.

"O'Brien is no doubt waiting for us to return to Imperial space," Mirror Kada says. "We should have known it wouldn't be as simple as the proposal stated, the Quantum Singularity Drive works, but there seems to be a number of bugs still in the system."

"Such as the electrical surge that hit the ship and jumped to the _U.S.S. Constance_," Mirror Lora says. "We are still attempting to explain what happened."

"The only thing we'd have going for us in a mutiny is that Covaks and O'Brien are bitter rivals, they're both after that new position as Fleet Commander," Mirror Kada says. "Maybe the pressure's finally gotten to her."

"I disagree," Mirror Reana says. "Captain Covaks tends to thrive under pressure, she's not one to buckle this easily. No, I think we're looking in the wrong place, we have to consider the possibility that the electrical charge had some sort of effect on the Captain, this is still an experimental technology."

"Lieutenent Heinrichs, is there any possibility that the Quantum Drive could have done something to the Captain?" Mirror Kada asks.

"Its possible," Mirror Lora admits. "There are a lot of anomalies in this region of space, its possible our Quantum Singularity might have intercected with one to cause something."

"I don't buy it," Mirror Kada says. "But, we have to consider all possibilities, I think that as a precaution, we should at least keep the Captain in the brig. Ivark, have your security teams arrest the Captain, I will deal with her personally."

"Yes Commander," Mirror Ivark says, and gets up.

**00000**

Back in her ready room, Rachel has been looking over the information she gained from the computer, and she had to admit it frightened her. The Terran Empire had been around for much longer than anyone had known or even suspected, in fact it had started as the Roman Empire, but something had happened. Exactly what had been lost to history, but while the Roman Empire had declined and eventually fell in Rachel's universe, they had thrived in this other universe, spreading their influence across Europe and Asia. By the 1600's, they had conquered the world, taking the name Terran Empire.

The Terran Empire had gone through minor rebellions, the United States had even existed at one point to a small degree. By the point that their Zefram Cochrane had built the _Phoenix_, the Empire was undergoing reforms that some people considered foolish, similar to later reforms under Spock. Cochrane had used stolen Vulcan technology to secure a position within the Terran Government, returning it to its more agressive and opressive ways.

She is brought back to her senses by a beeping sound, signifying a secure transmission is coming, from the _USS Constance_.

"Computer, put the transmission on screen," Rachel says, and the image of Mirror Rachel's face appears on the screen.

_"Captain Covaks, lets drop the pretense here, an error in the Quantum Sigularity Drive on board my ship has caused us to switch places,"_ Mirror Rachel says. _"I appologize for this inconvenience, but it seems that if we want to get anything done, then we will have to work together."_

"I doubt that our crews will ever agree to that," Rachel says. "The Federation and the Terran Emire have never been on the best of terms, to say the least."

_"Captain, at this point you and I have no choice,"_ Mirror Rachel says. _"We both want the same thing, to return to our ships, and I must report back to the Empire. I will give you whatever intelligence you need, but you must be careful, my crew has likely figured out that I am not myself, they will likely be sending a security team to deal with you."_

"Thank you, Captain," Rachel says.

_"Our ships are not entirely identical, there is a Jefferies tube in my Ready Room,"_ Mirror Rachel says.

"Thank you," Rachel says, and the transmission cuts off, just as the buzz of the door is heard. She opens the Jefferies tube, and closes it up, she needed to get out of here fast, and to avoid the sensors.

A minute later, a security team led by Mirror Ivark breaks in, the Xindi growls, pressing his commbadge. "Commander Drash, we've lost her."

**00000**

Mirror Rachel at the same time is examining a model of the _HMS Erebus_, the model of the 19th century sailing vessel in all of its splendor, before she sank of course. Mirror Rachel is having a hard time understanding her counterpart's fascination with ancient sailing and exploration ships, in her universe the _Erebus _had been a warship, Franklin had been on a mission of conquest. Explorers where weak, warriors where the one's that made a difference, she had proven that to herself over and over again, but then why did all this have such an impact on her? As she is pondering this, the door buzzes.

"Come in," Mirror Rachel says, standing up straight, as the door opens and Reana comes in. "Counselor, how may I be of service to you?"

"Captain, the crew has been worried about you," Reana says, taking a seat. "Ever since we encountered the _ISS Constance_, you've been acting very strange."

"I'm sorry, this just has me unnerved," Mirror Rachel says, moving behind the desk and looking out the window at the stars. "I have, read the files on the Terran Empire, its rather bizarre really. How they can be so similar to our universe, our history, and yet be so different."

"Some people in my field have compared it to an old psychology method, Freud's Id and Ego," Reana says. "Most of Freud's theories have been dismissed of course, but in times like this, its not unusual for us to go back to the old theories."

"Well, I appreciate your psychological opinion on the difference between two universes, but what else do you need?" Mirror Rachel asks.

"I appologize captain," Reana says. "I was simply stating my professional opinion, if past encounters with this, Mirror Universe is any indication, we will be in for a fight."

"Mirror Universe?" Mirror Rachel asks.

"Oh, one of my instructors called it that," Reana says. "He had a fascination with it, considered it an opportunity to study Freudian theory. He saw this, alternate universe as a mirror reflection of our own, not a perfect one of course, but he saw the metaphor as, adequate."

"Mirror Universe, I kind of like the sound of that," Mirror Rachel says. "Remind me, next chance we get to recommend that to be used on a more permanent basis."

"Captain, I appologize, but we need to get back on the subject at hand," Reana says. "I am not an Empath, but I can tell that there is something on your mind."

_I can't tell her the truth, she'd think I was crazy,_ Mirror Rachel thinks. "Sorry, its just all this stress, first the True Way, and now the Terran Empire."

"Yes, that's understandable," Reana says. "Also, the Maquis that we rescued are wanting answers about whether or not they can stay."

"Yes, the Maquis," Mirror Rachel says.

**00000**

Kada walks into cargo hold 2, where the Maquis where being held. She needed to discuss some matters with Joshua, she had her own concerns about what was going on, and the Maquis where something familiar.

"Commander Drash," Joshua says, standing at attention when Kada enters the cargo bay. "Is everything okay?"

"Mr. Riker, I'm not going to lie to you, we have a problem on our hands," Kada says, and fills the Maquis in on the situation with the _ISS Constance_.

"So, the Captain has been acting weird," Joshua says thoughtfully. "The Cardassians where reporting some weird readings, probes of unknown origin. Its possible that they where early tests done by this Terran Empire, but I wonder why the Badlands."

"Probably didn't think anyone would be crazy enough to have a base in the Badlands," Kada comments. "The Terran Empire probably chose this place to test their new method of getting into Federation space."

"The Terran Empire, my father knew about it," Joshua says. "The _USS Enterprise_ encountered it some years ago."

"Yeah, and there was some encounters when Sisko was in command of Deep Space 9," Kada says. "They are a force to be reckoned with, we really should have run when we identified the ship."

"The captain must have had some sort of reason," Joshua says.

"Yeah, but I have to admit, I'm not sure what that reason could have been," Kada says. "The _Constance_ is a tough old girl, but we can only assume that the _ISS Constance_ is newer, and more powerful than ours."

**00000**

Back on the _ISS Constance_, Rachel is crawling through a jefferies tube. She had managed to steal a phaser rifle before the Terran Empire security officers got into the armory, and was preparing to get into Sick Bay, she needed to mask her signature from the sensors of the ship.

_Lets see, there's an old Maquis trick, I remember reading about it in the Voyager's logs, Suder used it,_ Rachel thinks, getting ready to move into Sick Bay, forcing it open, firing at the Terran medical officers, as Mirror Kassadae walks in, raising her arms.

"Captain, what are you..." Kassadae starts to say.

"Long story, just give me a Thoron generator, and I'll be on my way," Rachel says, and the Vulcan fumbles with some devices, tossing a cylinder to Rachel, and she backs up through the Jefferies Tube, she figures she should say something to make it sound like she was her Terran Empire counterpart. "Doctor, if you tell any of this to the rest of the crew, I will personally hunt you down and kill you, very, very slowly."

"Captain, I never believed the others..." Mirror Kassadae says.

"I'm sure you didn't," Rachel says, closing the tube, she activates the Thoron generator quickly as she goes through the jefferies tube.

Mirror Kada bursts through the doors of the Sick Bay, holding a phaser. "Doctor Kassade, what happened?"

"I'm sorry, false alarm, everything is fine," Mirror Kassadae says, as Kada groans.

"Scan for the Captain," Mirror Kada says, as a security officer scans for Rachel.

"Nothing," the officer says.

"Damn, she's still somewhere on the ship, come on," Mirror Kada says, and the Terran Empire officers leave.

"Computer, show results of scan," Mirror Kassadae says, sitting down at a terminal, she pulls up information on a scan she had started on Rachel, and the results where, interesting. "That's not possible, then she, isn't the captain..."

**00000**

Rachel groans as she continues to make her way through the ship, the Thoron generator would keep her safe for awhile. She had learned many tactics from the Maquis, while her family had never served in the Maquis, she had a professional respect for the freedom fighters, and had learned quickly. The Thoron would keep her protected from the scanners, and she would have to move carefully.

_"Captain Covaks, can you hear me?"_ The voice of Mirror Kassadae is heard over Rachel's communicator.

"Doctor, don't you know that you could give me away like this?" Rachel replies. "I will have your..."

_"You can drop the charade, I know you're the captain of the _USS Constance_," _Mirror Kassadae says. _"I am going to do my best to attempt to keep the rest of the officers from finding you."_

"Doctor, why are you doing this?" Rachel asks.

_"The Terran Empire is a corrupt and dangerous government,"_ Kassadae says. _"Many years ago, Spock attempted to reform the Empire into the Federation. The result was that the Empire was conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, but there are still Vulcans and others in the Empire that want to bring the Empire more towards the ideals of the Federation."_

"So, you want to change the mission of the Terran Empire," Rachel says. "To explore and bring peace instead of conquer."

_"That is our goal, but there is a strong presence in the Imperial Starfleet that would rather keep us to the ideals of the ancient Terran Empire," _Mirror Kassadae says. _"And the strongest voice against it is James O'Brien,"_

"O'Brien, as in the Transporter Chief on the _Enterprise-D_?" Rachel asks, figuring the name was probably not a coincidience.

_"Yes, James O'Brien is the son of his Terran Empire counterpart,"_ Mirror Kassadae says. _"And Captain O'Brien is in the running for the commander-in-chief of Imperial Starfleet, and his only real competition is you, or more specifically the other you."_

"Wonderful, I'm in the body of a warlord who is in the running for the head of one of the most dangerous enemies the Federation has," Rachel says. "Doctor, exactly how did you know that I wasn't your Captain?"

_"Your neural pattern is different than that of the Terran Empire Rachel Covaks,"_ Mirror Kassadae says. _"I had the computer run a scan on you before I entered Sick Bay, I appologize for the subterfuge, but I had to be sure it was really you."_

"Can you get in contact with my ship?" Rachel asks.

_"I could try to contact my counterpart,"_ Mirror Kassadae says. _"She may be easier to convince than other members of your crew."_

Rachel pauses, Kassadae being a Romulan was less logical than her Mirror Universe Counterpart, but she supposed it could work. "Very well, go ahead and do that."

_"I will communicate with you as soon as I have word,"_ Mirror Kassadae says.

**00000**

Back on board the _USS Constance_, Kassadae is in Sick Bay, running experiments and tests, her computer activates.

"Okay, that's weird, a secure transmission?" Kassadae says, activating it, and the image of Mirror Kassadae appears on the screen. "You're..."

_"Yes, Doctor Kassadae, I am you,"_ Mirror Kassadae says. _"Or more specifically, I am your counterpart in the Terran Empire. I must explain this to you, my scans have proven that as a sort of bizarre twist, our two captains seem to have switched bodies."_

"Is that possible?" Kassadae asks.

_"Logic states that the event was the result of an error in our Quantum Singularity Drive," _Mirror Kassadae says. _"Our Lieutenant Heinrichs suggests that it the anomalies in the Badlands may have interfered."_

"Is there any other way that we can fix this?" Kassadae asks. "I mean, technically we could just switch captains, but I wouldn't want to explain this to Starfleet."

_"Nor would I to the Imperial Starfleet,"_ Mirror Kassadae says. _"Perhaps, if we could use the transporters..."_

"Then maybe their neural patterns would return to their normal form," Kassadae finishes for her Mirror counterpart. "I must say, you are not what I expected."

_"Nor are you, the Romulans have stayed out of the galactic stage in my universe, I did not expect my counterpart to be a Romulan,"_ Mirror Kassadae says.

"Nor did I expect you to be a Vulcan," Kassadae adds. "I will see if I can convince the crew to this plan, but it will not be easy."

_"You have the easy job,"_ Mirror Kassadae says. _"There aren't enough members of the crew loyal to the cause on this ship, I will have to keep the others occupied long enough for you to get the Captain transported."_

"I will do my best," Kassadae says. "I think Chief Barnes has a crush on me, it'll be easy enough to get him to allow me to access the transporters."

_"I will make contact with your captain and tell her the plan,"_ Kassadae says, and makes the Vulcan hand salute. _"Doctor, live long and prosper."_

**00000**

"This is outragious, how is she able to evade our scans?" Mirror Kada says, slamming her fist down on the captain's chair's armrest.

"I'm sorry Commander, but all we're picking up is a slight Thoron leak in the Jefferies tubes," Mirror Ivark says. "Its not necessarily a threat to us."

"A Thoron leak?" Mirror Kada asks, shaking her head, her parents hadn't served in the Maquis, so she had no knowledge of the tactic. "Its nothing, keep scanning for her, she has to be here somewhere."

"Yes, and we will continue to search for her," Mirror Syre says. "The Captain has lost her mind if you ask me, if there wasn't something wrong, then she wouldn't be running."

"I agree," Mirror Kada says.

**00000**

In the cargo bay, two security officers are standing around, guarding the cargo bay.

"Hey, do you ever wonder why we're here?" One of them asks the other.

"That's one of life's great mysteries isn't it, why are we here?" The other asks. "Is it some, cosmic coincidence, or are the Gods really up there, with a plan for us and stuff? I don't know, but it keeps me up at night."

"What, I mean why are we here, guarding this cargo bay?" The first officer says.

"Uh, I don't know," the second officer says.

"What was that stuff about the Gods?" the first asks.

"Oh, nothing," the second replies, and the Jefferies tube opens up, and a phaser shot wings the first officer, who duck behind a pair of crates as Rachel moves behind others, a firefight ensues

"Commander, we've found the captain, she's in Cargo Bay 1," the first officer reports.

_"Hold her there, we're on our way,"_ Mirror Kada says, Rachel mutters curses about the Terran efficiency.

"I am your Captain, I want you to stop firing on me!" Rachel shouts, firing at the officers.

"We have our orders, we will take you into custody!" The second officer says, as Rachel throws a crate at them, and ducks out of the Jefferies tube again.

"Commander, we've lost her again," the officers say into their commbadge.

**00000**

Kassadae continues to work through information as Mirror Rachel comes into Sick Bay.

"Doctor, you wanted to see me?" Mirror Rachel asks.

"Captain, I've had an interesting conversation with my counterpart on the _ISS Constance_," Kassadae says, catching Mirror Rachel off guard. "We know that you are not the captain of this vessel, but the captain of the Terran Empire vessel."

"How did you know that?" Mirror Rachel asks.

"Your neural patterns don't match," Kassadae says, showing readings of the two Rachel's neural patterns.

"Very interesting," Mirror Rachel says. "Yes, I am the captain of the _ISS Constance_, I have been trying to return to my ship."

"We have a plan," Kassadae says. "We will transport both of you and place you into the buffers, which may return your neural patterns to normal."

"Can we get the other Captain to agree to this?" Mirror Rachel asks, getting a nod from Kassadae. "And your crew?"

"They have agreed to help," Kassadae says. "Don't worry, it'll all be okay."

**00000**

Back on board the _ISS Constance_, Mirror Kada is pacing on the bridge, she's not in the best of moods. "Forget all this, Lieutenant Ivark, lock weapons on the Federation ship," she says.

"Commander?" Mirror Ivark asks.

"Just do it!" Mirror Kada commands.

"Weapons locked," Mirror Ivark says.

"Belay that order!" Rachel says, storming onto the bridge, drawing her phaser rifle, she had to keep the act up just a little longer. "I am in command of this ship, I should have you all thrown in the brig and court martialed after we return to the Empire for this mutiny!"

"Captain, I..." Mirror Kada says, and Rachel vanishes in a pillar of light, and a few moments later, Mirror Rachel is in her place. "Captain, what happened?"

"It doesn't matter," Mirror Rachel says, sitting down in the Captain's chair. "Hail the _USS Constance_."

"They are responding," Mirror Ivark says, and the image of Rachel appears on the viewscreen.

"It seems we're back to where we started," Mirror Rachel says.

_"Yes, now what will you do?" _Rachel asks her Mirror counterpart.

"Bridge to Lieutenant Heinrichs, return us home," Mirror Rachel says, and the _ISS Constance _jumps through a singularity.

**00000**

"Is it all over?" Kada asks, as they watch the Terran Empire vessel go away.

"For now," Rachel says. "Helm, set course for the Mylata system, Warp 7."

"Mylata system?" Kada asks.

"Its on the edge of known space," Rachel says. "Its in the Gamma Orionis sector.

"Gamma Orionis, are you saying that..." Ivark says.

"Yes, that's right, we're going after the Undine," Rachel says.

_**We recieved a secure transmission from Starfleet before the incident with the Terran Empire. We have to target the Undine, the notorious species 8472 that is a threat to everyone in the Alpha Quadrant.**_

_**It will take several days for us to get there, and in the meantime, I will spend some time to myself.**_

**00000**

_**After a bit of a wait, I have finished chapter 4.**_

_**Next chapter, en-route to the Mylata system, Rachel takes some time to relax on the holodeck. As you can probably guess, this won't go too well, so wait for chapter 5, "Vicious Cabaret."**_


End file.
